Drawing on the greek term Theôría (θεωρια), which lies both at the origin of the words Theory and Theatre, Sound Theory (The Clouds) explores how our situated listening is staged in the context of the theatre as the foundation for the cinematographic and musical spectacle. Rather than assuming the existence of something like a pure listening, Sound Theory (The Clouds) tackles the way technologies of audiovisual staging (from Cinema to Opera, from Smartphones to VR) inform the way particular forms of engagement with our surroundings through sound take place.

Sound Theory (The Clouds) consists of a ca. 25-minute work for violoncello, soundtrack, tape player, multiple loudspeaker setup, video and live-video. A specially-purposed loudspeaker setup, rather than concealed as a blank aural screen, is aimed to emphasize the embodied qualities that inform our engagement with the sonorous. In Sound Theory (The Clouds) both the material and temporal synchronization of the aural and the visual are decoupled, disassembling the components that inform the construction of acoustic fictions and exploring the ways we believe in what we hear.

Gabriel Paiuk is a composer and sound artist whose recent work is focused on the way notions, practices and material aspects of sound mediation play a role in shaping our listening. His work takes the form of sound installations, compositions for instruments and electronics and collaborations with other disciplines. In 2006 he won the Gaudeamus Composition Prize for his work Res Extensa – which was the first time a sound installation was awarded the prize. Recent works have been presented at Gallery W139, LI-MA and Sonic Acts Festival (Amsterdam), Universität Mozarteum (Salzburg) and the Willem Twee Kunstruimte-November Music Festival (Den Bosch). His ensemble and solo chamber work has been performed by Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik, ASKO ensemble, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Slagwerk Den Haag, Francesco Dillon, Ekkehard Windrich and Modelo62, among others. As a pianist-improviser he performed internationally and recorded together with musicians like Andrea Neumann, Axel Dörner, Jason Kahn, Keith Rowe, Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies, Gunter Mueller, Lucio Capece, Robin Hayward, Sergio Merce and others. Both his electronic and chamber works as well as his improvised music collaborations have been published in numerous labels internationally.

Sebastián Díaz Morales is a video artist whose work has been featured in prominent international venues such as Tate Modern (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Stedelijk Museum and De Appel (Amsterdam), Le Fresnoy (Roubaix), CAC (Vilnius), Miro Foundation, (Barcelona), Louisiana Museum, (Humlebaek), Biennale di Venezia and others. His work, which has been the topic of two monographic publications, consists in films and video installations that work on not “simply transporting the viewer into another, surreal, or phantasmal realm, but strip reality of its familiarity and distort it, making it seem like something else. […] With Díaz Morales, the camera does not function as a medium for faithfully depicting and recording what is observed, but is an essential, even epistemic means for questioning and appropriating reality.

Arne Deforce is world-renowned violoncello performer who has made a career of performing solo cello repertoire in the context of experimental music, including many works written especially for him. An inquisitive attitude has led him to collaborate with artists as diverse as Jonathan Harvey or Mika Vainio. For some time he’s been engaged in projects that investigate the intersection between music, art, science and technology, in which the instrument is frequently explored in its relationship with electronics. One of his recent projects consisted of the performance of a one-hour work for violoncello and electronics composed by Hector Parra at the 2017 Ruhrtriennale. His discography has received international acclaim, awarding him five Diapasons d’Or, Coup de coeur de l’Académie Charles Cros, and in 2012 the Prix Caecilia.