Sonic Acts Biennial 2026: Silence: Allan Gilbert Balon

On the first Friday of each month, Amsterdam's oldest building – the Oude Kerk – opens its doors at daybreak for Silence. At 8:00, as the city slowly stirs to life, audiences gather to experience performances that move between the ambient, the orchestral, and the avant-garde. For this special edition of Silence, as part of the Sonic Acts Biennial 2026, we welcome artist and composer Allan Gilbert Balon. Working between sculpture, sound, and composition, Balon traces the intimate edges of listening – crafting works where presence, memory, and the contours of space subtly entwine. His pieces often unfold with the quiet immediacy of something overheard: drifting piano figures, fragile tape textures, and atmospheres that feel suspended between interior rooms and coastal horizons.