Sónar+D has frequently included immersive installations. This year, SonarMàtica by Tezos will feature 6 different audiovisual installations. Each installation represents a creative response to a current issue, debate or challenge. Whether tackling Ecology, AI or Web3, each artist has set out to stimulate both the senses and the mind.

‘Botto’ is presented in collaboration with ONKAOS, which offers comprehensive support to international new media artists as part of the Colección SOLO’s sponsorship programme. A creation of German artist Mario Klingemann, it’s a decentralised ‘AI artist’ which creates artworks autonomously. Botto’s activity is governed by over 5,000 stakeholders by way of a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) who decide which pieces are ‘minted’ as NFTs for auction, and a selection of these will be displayed at SonarMàtica by Tezos this year.  

'Carbolytics' has been developed by Joana Moll in collaboration with Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and Aksioma. It’s an installation piece that unmasks the environmental impact represented by internet cookies, which were developed to track and monitor user behaviour on the internet for marketing and advertising purposes.

‘Face2Wikipedia’ was created by Andreas Refsgaard, the ‘creative coder’ and digital activist. As is typical of Refsgaard’s playful and provocative work, it generates drafts of fictitious wikipedia entries based on facial scans. Andreas will also give a masterclass on Thursday 16th June, on SonarÀgora in collaboration with ISEA2022 Barcelona and Hac Te [link]. 

‘Karst’ by sound artist Lugh O’Neill has been created during a residency hosted by Sónar and Barcelona’s CCCB museum under the umbrella of the S+T+ARTS ‘Repairing the Present’ programme. At Sónar+D, Lugh will exhibit -  as a work in progress - a video and 3-D spatialised sound composition designed to analyse and contextualise a specific environment. This work features Leisha Thomas and vocal performances by Marie Requa Gailey and Dylan Kerr.

‘NAN (Not An NFT)’ uses data visualisation to explore the NFT phenomenon. Designed by Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and commissioned by Sónar, it explores the positive and negative aspects of the burgeoning NFT market. Is this a pathway to economic security for the artistic community? Or just another manifestation of unequal and unjust markets, a bubble about to burst?

‘Non Dimensional Cities’ by Rotterdam based installation artist Marnix de Nijs is presented in collaboration with New Art Foundation. Using information gathered via Google Maps, it creates a virtual cityscape, unconstrained by dimensions.