Sonic Acts biennial conference (Oct 2022)
As part of the Sonic Acts Biennial, Arias co-hosted a panel discussion between (artistic) research practices in progress titled Climate Imaginaries at Sea: Rehearsing Disaster. The conversation focused on the urgencies and imaginaries of climate change and sea level rise in the Dutch context. Speakers included Aura Satz, Daphina Misiedjan, and Walden Collective, moderated by Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca of DAS Graduate School.
Since 1994, the Sonic Acts festival has acquired recognition as a concentrated art, theory, and technology gathering prompted by ecological, political, and social changes. The biennial was back in full force in 2022, expanding beyond its traditional framework. This edition emphasized the edition’s commitment to helping artists in ever-changing conditions. It is already a significant platform for international initiatives, research, and the commissioning and co-production of new artworks. The organization encourages experimentation and provides a platform for dynamic viewpoints through creative explorations and research, which may be tools for discovery, growth, development, and emancipation.
The Climate Imaginaries at Sea coalition explores possible futures in and around water through various artistic and participatory research practices, brought forward by three collaborating research groups from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Academy of Theatre and Dance, and the Rietveld Academie. With ARIAS – a platform for artistic research in Amsterdam- and a network of partners like Tolhuistuin and the Institute for Sound & Vision, the coalition develops ways of responding to Amitav Ghosh’s statement that “the climate crisis is also a crisis of the imagination.”