© Edwin van der Heide
Activity
Thursday, 21 May 2026
MURMURS VII: Spiral of Time by Edwin van der Heide
Sound performance based on listening in the Plaça dels Àngels
coming soon
The seventh action in the Murmurs series presents a live performance by Edwin van der Heide, working with the expanding sonic archive of his artwork Spiral of Time.
For nearly two years the project has continuously recorded the soundscape of Plaça dels Àngels in front of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. Installed microphones capture the square’s everyday density: scattered conversations, movements, frictions, urban rhythms, and unforeseen events that shape its ever-changing identity.
During the performance, van der Heide navigates this archive in real time. By selecting, layering, and recombining recordings from different moments, he composes a new sonic narrative of the square. Sounds that originally occurred hours, days, or months apart begin to coexist, revealing hidden patterns and unexpected connections. Through this process, the square unfolds as a living composition in which time folds and overlaps, allowing listeners to encounter the evolving identity of the place through sound.
participant
Edwin van der Heide Edwin van der Heide is an artist, composer and researcher in the field of sound, space and interaction. He extends musical composition and musical language into spatial, interactive and interdisciplinary directions. His work comprises installations, performances and environments. The audience is often located in the middle of the work and challenged to actively explore and interact with the artwork.
He has presented his work at renown museums, festivals, galleries and music venues as SMAK - Ghent, Ars Electronica Festival – Linz, Stedelijk Museum – Amsterdam, V2_’s DEAF - Rotterdam, ICC – Tokyo, NAMOC – Beijing, Transmediale – Berlin, SONAR – Barcelona, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, SFMOMA, FILE – Brazil, MAXXI – Rome, NMMCA – Seoul, SONAMBIENTE – Berlin, Reina Sofia Museum - Madrid, ZKM – Karlsruhe, Art Basel Parcours Night and Donaueschinger Musiktage.
Besides running his own studio he is part-time lecturer and researcher at Leiden University, involved in both the Leiden Institute for Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) including the Media Technology MSc programme, and the Academy for Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA). From 1995 till 2016 he was a lecturer at, and later also head (2014-2016) of, the ArtScience Interfaculty of the Royal Conservatoire and Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. He was Edgard Varèse guest professor at the Technische Universität Berlin (2009) and won the Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Award 2009 for his entire body of work. He was an invited artist and guest professor at Le Fresnoy, studio des arts contemporain in France for the year 2011-2012 and guest lecturer in the Master Contemporary Arts Practice of the HKB, Bern University of the Arts in 2019.
artists
1 artists
with the support of
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
MACBA Thirty
We celebrate Year Thirty of an infinite MACBA that projects the future as a space for revision and possibility: of taking up what was left unfinished, updating what needs it and projecting anew everything that can still be transformed.
exhibition
From July 10, 2025, to January 11, 2027
Spiral of Time – Plaça dels Àngels – MACBA
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