In her performative lecture Deep Time Soundings, researcher, curator, artist, and educator Margarida Mendes traces the rapidly changing ecology of Portugal’s Tagus River – a landscape marked by pollution, dam control, and eucalyptus monocultures that alter the river’s hydrology and desiccate surrounding lands. Developed with the Natural Contract Lab and in consultation with ProTejo, her research follows activists who monitor the river around Vila Velha de Rodão, an epicentre of environmental crime. Through field recordings, voice, and testimonies from river guardians, Mendes creates a multisensory account of an ecosystem in deep transformation, offering a study of environmental mourning and the fragile ties between landscape and community.
Moving between geological deep time and the rhythms of rivers, bodies, and other forms of life, Mendes considers how ecological loss becomes inscribed in bodies and landscapes. The changing flow of the river, the disappearance of species, and the memories of local communities become forms of environmental evidence, raising questions about how we record change, sense extinction, and listen for what is absent as well as what remains.
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Sonic Acts Biennial 2026 was a citywide arts manifestation taking place from 5 February to 29 March across 23 locations in Amsterdam. Titled Melted for Love, the programme was visited by more than 21.000 people and featured cutting-edge performances, contemporary sound experiments, and multidisciplinary art by over 200 international artists.
The Symposium, which took place at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam on 28 February and 1 March 2026, brought together performances and lectures by Yuk Hui, Flavia Dzodan, Steve Goodman (Kode9), Eleni Ikoniadou, Salomé Voegelin, Ayesha Hameed & Aimée Theriot, Margarida Mendes, Yazan Khalili, pantea, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Busher Kanj, Amr Mdah & Fabio Cervi, and ILYICH.
→ Continue reading about the Sonic Acts Biennial 2026 at 2026.sonicacts.com
This podcast is produced by Sonic Acts and realised as part of New Perspectives for Action, a project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union.
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