Sonic Acts Academy 2018: Unpacking the Processes of Artistic Knowledge Sonic Acts Academy takes place from 23 to 25 February 2018 at various locations in Amsterdam North, including Dansmakers and Paradiso Noord – Tolhuistuin, with several pre-festival events at the Eye Filmmuseum and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Sonic Acts Academy 2018 is pleased to host the artists and thinkers Ane Hjort Guttu, Ase Manual, Catherine Christer Hennix, Charmaine Chua, Christina Kubisch, Cocky Eek, Daniel Mann, DJ Haram, DJ Lycox, Dreamcrusher, Drippin, Filipa César, Geng, Jennifer Lucy Allan, Jennifer Walshe, Kilbourne, Lorenzo Pezzani, Marija Bozinovska Jones, Mario de Vega, Martijn van Boven, Moor Mother, Nicole Hewitt, Nora Sternfeld, Renske Maria van Dam, Rick Dolphijn, Roc Jiménez de Cisneros, Sasha Litvintseva, Solveig Suess, Susan Schuppli, Swan Meat, Violence, and many more. Academy Passes are available for the Early Bird price of €50 until 31 December. Buy tickets

Sonic Acts Academy is a new platform for speculation and reflection, focusing on critical examination of knowledge production in the field of art. It is an experimental setting free of institutional pressure and privileged classrooms, and it enables us to test and quickly react to changes in both form and content of what we should know. The Academy opts for an inclusive community; it involves those who resist or without access to the privileged spaces of academia. Today, more than ever, it is necessary to address the function of art and the artist and to expand the conversation to include the processes of the ‘decolonisation of thought’ – certainly one of the most critical factors in artistic practices today. By presenting artistic investigations and research – the processes that challenge the notions of the petrified world – Sonic Acts aims to include various dynamic perspectives to the podium. Together, we need to rethink how education can again become a tool for discovery and growth, for development and emancipation, and not just a machine that disseminates dominant modes of thinking.

The second edition of Sonic Acts Academy features a range of international artists, academics, activists, curators, and theorists, ready to articulate different examples of learning and to engage in an experimental setting free of institutional pressure and privileged classrooms. Their processes are revealed in a variety of open workshops, seminars, lectures, performances, screenings, sensorial walks, and installations, taking place at Dansmakers, Eye Filmmuseum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and other locations. The Academy includes two club nights at Paradiso Noord – Tolhuistuin, as part of the ongoing Progress Bar series. Aiming to represent radical equality, communality and hopefulness, Progress Bar is a growing community of artists, academics and activists who occupy clubs for a better politics. Organised in partnership with Paradiso, Stedelijk Museum, EYE Filmmuseum and Dansmakers, and as part of Re-Imagine Europe, the Academy includes speculative ‘festival’ modules devised together with the educational institutions ArtEz, Arnhem (Continuum, Interaction Design), ArtScience Interfaculty, The Hague, Goldsmiths University, London (Centre for Research Architecture), Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam (Shadow Channel), and Utrecht University (Research School for Media Studies). Sonic Acts Academy 2018 is supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Mondriaan Fund, Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, The Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, and Paradiso. First confirmed participants: Ane Hjort Guttu Ase Manual Catherine Christer Hennix Charmaine Chua Christina Kubisch Cocky Eek Daniel Mann DJ Haram DJ Lycox Dreamcrusher Drippin Filipa César Geng Jennifer Lucy Allan Jennifer Walshe Kilbourne Lorenzo Pezzani Marija Bozinovska Jones Mario de Vega Martijn van Boven Moor Mother Nicole Hewitt Nora Sternfeld Renske Maria van Dam Rick Dolphijn Roc Jiménez de Cisneros Sasha Litvintseva Solveig Suess Susan Schuppli Swan Meat Violence More names will be announced in January. Stay tuned! A limited number of Early Bird tickets are available until 31 December. Regular tickets and Group Passes will go on sale in January. Buy tickets here. Attend on Facebook