Sonic Acts Biennial: Heart Rests Twice #2

What happens when we approach the sound system as an organism – alive, malleable, and collectively re-invented – rather than a static machine? Focusing on liminal listening at the edges of quadraphonic sound, the second edition of Heart Rests Twice – a curated series unfolding across five Thursday nights during Sonic Acts Biennial 2026 – extends murmur’s custom-built surround system with eight additional Distributed Mode Loudspeakers (DML). These 3D-printed speakers, designed by acoustical engineer Danny van der Lugt, create multiple layers of sounding space.

ORGANIZACIÓN SECRETARIAT is experimental electronicist Elizabeth Davis – also known as Wilted Woman – and Hugo Esquinca, who focuses on the limits of sound systems, feedback, and non-linear processes. The duo works within a strict conceptual and technical framework grounded in the relationship between gesture and sound. Their performance CULMINATION is a one-time affair: a piece in development since 2017, its score written and its feedback paths mapped without any electrical connections made in advance.

Embedded in a ritualistic performance practice across both existing and impossible spaces, Sadnoise – the alias of Femi Shonuga-Fleming – opens a dialogue between sound and the surrounding environment. As Sadnoise, Shonuga-Fleming appears in live settings as nonlinear moments in time: an abstract expression of internet esoterica and binary code nestled in dying grass and moss. His work inhabits an evolving, intangible architecture shaped through exchanges between technology, unconventional instruments, synthesis, and organic materials.

 Having devised a showcase specifically for van der Lugt’s DML speakers, JacqNoise works with modular synthesisers – particularly Eurorack – seeking moments where rhythms overlap, drones rub against one another, and melodies warp and distort. A recognised figure in the experimental scene, she is a member of the Berlin Modular Society, the Berlin Noise Festival, and DIY Kit Day.

Heart Rests Twice draws together artists who work across discursive formats, composition, audiovisual performance to explore ideas of home, place, and belonging. Tuning into the pulse of the heartbeat – a circular rhythm – the series invites a heartfelt, hearingful mode of engagement – a way of listening that is not only receptive but relational, even transformative. The concerts will be followed by a Q&A.

The people at Sonic Acts have kindly offered a limited amount of free tickets for Subbacultcha members. Please make a reservation by sending an email to mailinglist@subbacultcha.nl with ‘Sonic Acts: Heart Rests Twice #2 ‘ in the subject line + your name in the email.

Registrations are open until 12.00 PM on weekdays.