Resonating with the complex histories of Het HEM — the former munitions factory — the programme excavates the multiple ecologies intertwining the geographies of the inner ear and earth through the reverberations of spatial sound. Within the cavernous walls, the contaminated soil of the nearby shock forest and docklands of the North Sea Canal, Inner Ear(th) carves out a space for exchange at the unstable border of the natural and artificial. At such meeting points, where vibrations echo off the eardrum, transmitter, object or entity, the Biennial programme brings into focus a collective listening practice that explores our capacity to resonate.

As unknown as the inner earth, swirling in the cranial nerve, the ear forms a labyrinth that transforms vibrations into electrical signals, enabling our bodies to hear, understand and balance. Itinerating over three days with multichannel performances, hybrid transmissions and ritualistic acts, this labyrinth will be transformed into a space where sounds reverberate with understanding of our current messy reality; where balance of the Earth and our own daily lives needs to be retuned carefully, just as the equilibrium with other nonhuman species around us. From the innermost geologic layer of Earth to the mazes in our own heads, this sound programme aims to gather a community that can provoke change and inspire care.

On the first floor, the Exhibition Space hosts several performative spaces spread in between the gigantic girders. There, a radical sound diffusion system Acousmonium will project both live performances and works from the archive. In the intimacy of the Black Box and Dark Room, the audience will be invited to experience various sonic provocations and audiovisual stagings, many of which are premieres.

Beginning each day from 12:00, an array of installations, soundwalks and the Soundcamp x Kate Donovan programme — located in Homebase — are free of charge for anyone who wants to participate. Concerts and performances are available only with Sonic Acts Weekend and Day Passes.