Sonic Sediments was curated and performed at the Malta Biennale 2026.

Sonic Sediments, curated and performed at the Malta Biennale 2026. is a research-based sonic performance unfolding across the quarries and layered heritage of Malta. Within these terrains, inheritance and oblivion intertwine, forming a palimpsest where prehistoric devotion and modern industry coexist, revealing the tensions between sacred excavation and capitalist extraction.

Composed of field recordings, archival fragments, oral histories, and spontaneous conversations and encounters, the project takes the form of an experimental sonic composition dispersed throughout the everyday spaces of the Biennale before culminating in a collective listening performance at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ħaġar Qim on May 20, 2026.

Democratic life today is being tested by distrust, algorithmic governance, artificial intelligence, migration, ecological crisis, and informational fragmentation. In a moment of polycrisis, we propose listening as a political, epistemological, and curatorial methodology. Drawing from Sonic Sediments, for the Malta Biennale 2026, we argue that sonic research offers alternative ways of assembling collective life through attention rather than representation, and through improvisation rather than consensus. Rather than seeking clarity, listening creates the conditions for inhabiting ambiguity, negotiating difference, and cultivating multiple forms of collective life in an age of multiple and simultaneous crises.

This project is completed with the generous support of the European Union, Heritage Malta, the Goethe-Institut, Opera of the Future at MIT Media Lab (Boston, United States), Ħaġar Qim Archeological Site, and the Malta Biennale.