Phonic Somnia

Phonic Somnia was a long durational listening event that took place at QO2 in Brussels over the night of April 5 to the morning of April 6 2025.

We gathered to listen and think with the forest stream from a bark beetle-impacted site in the Thuringian Forest in Germany.

We started to listen with the sunset and end after the dawn chorus the next day–the two moments when the forest soundscape is the most active. Together, we explored what it means to listen collectively, remotely, consciously and subconsciously through different modalities of sound and time.

The forest stream ran throughout the whole duration of the event, while different performances and talks interacted with the live acoustics of the forest. During the night participants slept on camping mattresses inside of the sound installation.

Program:

18h open doors

18h30 – 19h00 Introduction

19h00 – 19h30 Guided Listening Exercise

19h30 – 20h00 Concert Adia Vanheerentals

20h30 – 21h30 Talk and listening session w Lia Mazzari

22h – 23h Jacob Dwyer ‘A thousand Dead Beetles’

23h – 00h Concert Roxane Metayer

00h – 02h00 Live-stream mix and reading stories

02h00 – 10h00 Sleeping Time

10h00 – 11h00 Breakfast, collective sharing and discussion