Sonic Investigations

Curatorial team: Valentin Bansac, Mike Fritsch, Alice Loumeau with Ludwig Berger, Peter Szendy

Sonic Investigations is an immersive, joyful and radical invitation to shift focus from the visual to the sonic. In our image-saturated contemporary society, sight often eclipses other senses which are vital to understanding the unseen dynamics of our sensory relationship with environments. Inspired by John Cage’s silent song 4’33”, Sonic Investigations invites us to close our eyes and actively listen. As a counter-project to the hegemony of images, the act of listening opens up new possibilities for exploring both built and natural environments and to move our attention towards giving voices to more-than-human agencies.

As both a practical and theoretical investigation, the project serves as a tool to re-explore the dense territory of Luxembourg—a significant case study for global western paradigms in territorial planning. The sounds of the region emanating from biological, geological and anthropogenic beings blend into the intertwined soundscape of the Anthropocene and lead to the question: How to reveal the entangled character of specific contemporary situations in Luxembourg?

Through attentive listening and field recordings that capture a range of sounds from diverse environments, Sonic Investigations creates a new, uncanny and embodied experience of space, thus emphasising the value of sensorial approaches in spatial practices. 

Investigating territories through the medium of sound, the project seeks to craft new narratives that reimagine Luxembourg beyond anthropocentric perspectives. By attuning to the auditory dynamics of the region’s densely infrastructured landscapes, the pavilion will provide an immersive space to give voice to the invisible. Drawing inspiration from Murray Schafer’s 1960s concept of Acoustic Ecology and Steve Goodman’s Sonic Warfare, sound serves as a point of tension, offering alternative ways to perceive space and confront the challenges of a rapidly transforming environment.

Sound piece 
Commissioned to sound artist and field recordist Ludwig Berger, an in-situ sound piece is at the centre of the physical pavilion. The composition weaves together recordings from distinctive locations across Luxembourg, inviting listeners to explore space through a new auditory perspective. The field works spur from encounters and site visits with local specialists encompassing a broad spectrum of disciplines including ecology, social science, engineering, history and data science. Please find a work-in-progress sound teaser for Ecotonalities: No Other Home Than the In-Between, 2025 by Ludwig Berger here. 

Before entering the sound piece immersive space, the Long Throw Parabolic Loudspeaker by Anthea Caddy as a collaboration with Peter Szendy sparks curiosity for the listener.

Book 
Edited in collaboration with philosopher and musicologist Peter Szendy, the book Ecotones: Investigating Sounds and Territories extends the investigations on the relevance of sound in territorial studies outside the context of Luxembourg. Developed as an autonomous book, it offers a curated collection of texts from various disciplines that examine spaces, territories and ecologies through sonic ventures. Much like the sound piece, the book fosters new cultural frameworks and theoretical tools for spatial practitioners.

Activations
A series of three events will activate and resonate with the pavilion at key moments, such as the opening week, the Pavilion Days and the closing week. These activations extend the reflection on embodied practices and sensorial approaches to space through sound, engaging with what composer Pauline Oliveros calls Deep Listening. The programme will include an off-site sound performance by Ludwig Berger with readings from the book, a short residency with Gaia Ginevra Giorgi culminating in a performance within the pavilion's immersive space, and an audio-walk through the Venice lagoon guided by Nicola Di Croce, each offering a unique exploration of the audience's body within soundscapes. The events will create a dialogue between the pavilion's production and the local Italian sound research scene.

19th International Venice Architecture Biennale, Luxembourg Pavilion, Arsenale, Sale d’Armi, 1st floor / May 10–November 23, 2025. 

Valentin Bansac, Mike Fritsch, Alice Loumeau with Ludwig Berger, Peter Szendy: Sonic Investigations.

Commissioners appointed by the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture: Kultur / lx – Arts Council Luxembourg, LUCA—Luxembourg Center for Architecture / Curators: Valentin Bansac, Mike Fritsch, Alice Loumeau / Exhibitors: Valentin Bansac, Ludwig Berger, Anthea Caddy, Mike Fritsch, Alice Loumeau, Peter Szendy / Visual identity: Pierre Vanni.

Press contacts
Kultur / lx – Arts Council Luxembourg
Emilie Gouleme, emilie.gouleme@kulturlx.lu
T +352 621 680 028

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T +34 687394056 

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