Sonic Acts Biennial 2026 Heart Rests Twice Concert 5 at murmur Amsterdam

Heart Rests Twice is a concert series taking place across five Thursday nights at murmur as part of Sonic Acts Biennial 2026, Melted for Love. This edition explores sound, code, and archival fragments, asking how so-called “intelligence” is understood, weaponised, and embedded in everyday life. The artists probe hidden networks and infrastructure, opening speculative techno-futures and alternative sonic worlds. Hannah Hajar is an electronic duo influenced by mystical dub, ambient, bass, and musique concrète, singing in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. Their soundscapes drift between rhythmic and contemplative layers, where accordion dissolves into synthetic textures and deconstructed rhythms twist through shadows – some haunting, some soothing – revealing veiled dreams. Beirut Birds (طيور بيروت) is a long-term project by Lebanese artist Nour Sokhon. Using interviews, field recordings, voice, piano, electronics, violin, and even objects of transit like luggage wheels and office bells, the project traces personal and collective stories of migration and displacement. The resulting soundscapes transform time and movement into an in-between space for those who left and those who remain. Guitarist Nina Garcia and trombonist Maria Bertel push themselves and their instruments to the limits. Through feedback, drones, crackling circuits, overtones, and random harmonies, the duo – working together since 2016 – creates intense, immersive improvisations that test the edges of sound and perception. Across Heart Rests Twice, artists explore ideas of home, place, and belonging through attentive, shared listening. In murmur’s surround sound space in Amsterdam Noord, each concert is followed by a Q&A, creating space for reflection and conversation. The Sonic Acts Biennial 2026 takes place from 5 February to 29 March 2026 in Amsterdam, with 80 events across 20 venues, featuring work by 200+ artists. This large-scale arts manifestation includes concerts, listening sessions, a symposium, film screenings, exhibitions, masterclasses, workshops, and site-specific projects.