Sonic Acts is opening a physical space in Rotterdam for artists to experiment, compose, and realise multichannel soundworks. The Spatial Sound Studio will host residents – at first selected by the Sonic Acts team as part of a pilot programme – that will develop their newly commissioned pieces, which will premiere at the Sonic Acts Biennial in February and March 2026.

About the Residency

Rather than adhering to a fixed speaker/stage format, artists are invited to reimagine form and function: testing layouts, shifting perspectives, and working within a flexible, open-ended system. The programme provides time and access to specialised tools and technologies, curatorial dialogue, and freedom to explore and evolve. Beyond production, the residency offers context: connecting to Sonic Acts’ archive, nurturing research-based approaches, and reactivating threads from the organisation’s history. Commissioned works will embrace open-source principles, allowing them to be adapted and diffused across various spatial playback systems.

First Invited Residents

The Spatial Sound Residency is currently a curated residency leading up to the Sonic Acts Biennial 2026, for which artists are invited to come and develop their work. They have been selected for their diverse methodologies – a mix of local and international practitioners working across multichannel sound, immersive audio, spatial hearing, and electronic or electroacoustic composition. Residents in June and July include C. Lavender, an interdisciplinary sound artist and educator based in New York City, whose practice explores the therapeutic and perceptual dimensions of sound through performance, installation, and guided listening. Also in residence is Clara de Asís, a composer and performer whose work spans electroacoustic music and minimalist forms, often focusing on silence, resonance, and the spatial experience of sound. They will be joined by many others in the coming period.

The Spatial Sound Residency is kindly supported by Creative Industries Fund NL, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Cultuurloket DigitALL and Mondriaan Fund, and is part of Re-Imagine Europe programme, co-funded by the European Union.

For more information, visit the website of Sonic Acts.