Sound of Two Grounds
Sound of Two Grounds is an immersive, interactive performance-installation that explores how shared sonic and visual environments can foster connection, presence, and ecological awareness. Moving beyond a one-to-one format, the work brings together two performers within a responsive system, creating a dynamic relational field that expands to include the audience as active participants. Through this evolving interplay, the piece invites everyone present to slow down, attune to one another, and experience a collective sense of grounding—offering restoration amid the accelerated rhythms of contemporary life.
Informed by environmental neuroscience research, including the work of Marc Berman, the project builds on the understanding that exposure to natural environments—even mediated or simulated ones—can reduce stress, enhance cognitive function, and support emotional resilience. Sound of Two Grounds translates these insights into an embodied, participatory setting, where nature-inspired soundscapes and visuals evoke the restorative qualities of ecosystems such as forests, water, and wind.
At the core of the project is the Sentire system, an interactive technological platform that detects and interprets movement and relationships in real time. Using conductive bracelets and capacitive sensing, Sentire tracks proximity, touch, and shifting group dynamics, transforming bodies into responsive interfaces. Rather than focusing on individual biometric data, the system emphasizes relational presence—mapping the distances, encounters, and rhythms between participants into an evolving audiovisual composition.
Within this framework, two performers—Javier Blanco and Viviana Defazio—act as catalysts rather than central figures. Their interactions generate an initial structure, but the performance remains open and permeable: audience members are spontaneously invited into the system, becoming co-creators of the experience. As participants enter, connect, and move together, they influence the unfolding soundscape (developed in SuperCollider) and visual environment (created with TouchDesigner and DMX-controlled lighting). The interactive sound design is developed by Marcello Lussana, shaping a responsive sonic ecosystem that evolves with each interaction. The visuals, designed by Fang Tsai and ChunLi Wang, draw on organic patterns and textures, reinforcing a sense of immersion in a living, breathing ecology.
By dissolving the boundaries between performer and audience, Sound of Two Grounds proposes a collective form of listening and sensing. It is a space where human connection and environmental resonance intertwine—where technology becomes a medium for rediscovering embodied presence, and where the experience of “ground” emerges not as a fixed point, but as something continuously co-created between people, space, and sound.
Sound of Two Grounds is part of the New European Bauhaus Festival 2026 and will be presented in Brussels, Belgium on 12 June 2026.