applicationContext = Production

Radio Amnion live: Deep Sea Soundscapes and Cosmic Perspectives

Radio Amnion live: An evening of sound, performance, and deep listening brought together artists, physicists, and audiences to explore connections between oceanic space, radio transmission, and the invisible universe at Haus der Kunst on 24 April 2026.

As part of the collaborative programme Neutrinos & Dark Matter and the Open Haus series at Haus der Kunst, Radio Amnion convened artists, researchers, and audiences for an evening of listening, performance, and dialogue on 24 April 2025. The event examined the relationship between aquatic environments, sound transmission, and the unseen forces that inform our understanding of the cosmos, from deep-ocean acoustics to neutrinos travelling across the universe from distant astrophysical sources.

The event was also broadcast live through Munich's independent radio station Radio 80000, and unfolded as a shared listening experience that moved across scales and environments: from the quantum to the cosmic, from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the collective space of the listening audience. Through performances, sound works, and conversations, participants were invited to consider listening as a form of attention, relation, and care.

The evening opened with Sonic Transmissions of Care, a listening session featuring works from the growing Radio Amnion archive. Contributions by artists and composers including Tuomas A. Laitinen, Molly Astley, JD Zazie, Eve Egoyan, Anne Bourne, and others created an immersive sonic environment that reflected the project's ongoing engagement with oceanic space and non-human forms of communication.

The live programme, intimate/beyond, presented newly commissioned and recent works by an international group of artists working across sound, performance, moving image, and experimental media. Highlights included the premiere of Turbulent Rot by Samuel Hertz and Caitlin Berrigan, alongside On the Edge, Clouds Passing By by Laure Boer. Audio-visual contributions such as Watery Thoughtsby Joséfa Ntjam and Static Range by Himali Singh Soin expanded the programme's exploration of water, atmosphere, transmission, and environmental imagination. Additional contributions by Pablo Diserens, Libita Sibungu, and others further broadened the conversation between artistic practice and planetary systems.

The event formed part of Radio Amnion: Sonic Transmissions of Care in Oceanic Space, a long-term sound art project conceived by Jol Thoms. The project uses a deep-sea radio station located more than two kilometres beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean to broadcast commissioned artworks into oceanic space. Developed in dialogue with the planned Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE), Radio Amnion creates a unique meeting ground between artistic inquiry, underwater environments, and fundamental physics.

By placing artistic transmission alongside scientific exploration, Radio Amnion invites new ways of thinking about listening, distance, and connection. Rather than approaching the ocean as an empty backdrop, the project understands it as a living medium through which signals, stories, and relationships circulate. In doing so, it opens a space where contemporary art and astrophysics can meet around shared questions of perception, presence, and the unknown.

Funding was provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Canada Council for the Arts.