SMART Project Space

Sonic Acts –The Dark Universe opens earlyin 2013, starting five weeks before the actual festival with the extensive Sonic Acts exhibition at New Art Space Amsterdam (NASA).

In the weeks leading up to the festival you can visit this exhibition of installations and other works that explore aspects of The Dark Universe.

On 12 January we will organise a festive opening of the exhibition, which also kicks off the festival. It's a perfect opportunity to celebrate the New Year together. The opening starts at 21:00 with live performances, DJs, and drinks.

Festival: 21–24 February 2013 Sonic Acts – The Dark Universe

The fifteenth edition of Sonic Acts, entitled The Dark Universe, takes place from 21– 24 February 2013 at several different locations in Amsterdam. With The Dark Universe, Sonic Acts explores the boundaries of our knowledge.

Starting points for the theme The Dark Universe are recent developments in science. These developments show that our world is more unfamiliar and weirder than we imagine. We know that in all likelihood only 4 per cent of the universe is made of ordinary matter, while the other 96 per cent remains completely dark to us. Think of the recent discovery of the ‘missing’ Higgs boson or the realisation that time and space do not correctly represent reality as we have come to understand it since Newton. The Dark Universe celebrates the deeply rooted human desire to occupy ourselves with mysteries. The arts and sciences have always been at the core of our exploration of the unknown, the strange, and the unfamiliar. Artists and scientists repeatedly rethink reality and question the things we think we know.

For The Dark Universe, Sonic Acts brings together scientists, artists, theorists, musicians and composers. They investigate how to make the invisible imaginable, teach us how to embrace the unknown, and guide us through the dark universe. Expect experiments with projections, sound generation and ‘expanded’ experiences to enhance the senses. This way, in a metaphorical sense, a work (of art) can function as an instrument to make dark matter visible and dark energy tangible.