Pablo Sanz

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PORTAL PHONOCENE is a site-conditioned sound work for the TONSPUR_passage in the Museumsquartier. Part of the ongoing series PHONOCENE ~ SPECTRAL AFFECTS, it invites listeners to attune to the vitality of non-human voices and sonic expressions. The work unfolds as a series of soundspaces woven from sound materials gathered in biodiverse Amazonian territories, reconfigured and expanded through spectral transformations.

The composition is guided by the spectral coexistence of life in densely layered ecosystems, where species distribute their voices to sustain sonic communication and balance. This principle, known as the acoustic niche hypothesis, suggests that different organisms organise their vocalisations to avoid masking each other. The spectrograms exhibited in the passage visualise these co-existing sonic patterns, drawn from original recordings and focused details, revealing the intricate interplay of a multispecies sonic ecology.

The intervention hovers at the threshold of perception, subtly interweaving with the evolving rhythms, daily interactions, and sounds in and around the passage. It invites discovery — emerging and dissolving within the flow of everyday life. At times barely perceptible, it quietly invites attuned listening. The transfigured clicks, buzzes, croaks, chirps, and whispers of bats, insects, amphibians, and birds drift in a spectral flow, forming a liminal space — a portal into alternative modes of listening and relating.

The Phonocene, a concept introduced by Donna Haraway and expanded by Vinciane Despret as a counterpoint to the Anthropocene buzzword, envisions an epoch of attunement to the voices of the planet — a call to listen beyond the human, to trust in the world’s musicalities, and to recognise how sound can reconnect us with the planet’s living tapestry. Amid escalating eco-social crises, it sparks a shift in awareness — fostering renewed attention and empathy, encouraging less anthropocentric ways of being and thinking.

Pablo Sanz, born in Madrid, Spain in 1981, lives and works in Madrid and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. 89^th TONSPUR-Artist-in-Residence at MQ in Vienna.

PORTAL PHONOCENE • 8-channel soundwork, 7-part series of A1 images • duration 60’00” (∞) • concept, recordings, composition, A1 images Pablo Sanz • production support Mamirauá Institute (Tefé, Amazonas), Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Sound and Music (SARC, Queen’s University Belfast), Laboratory of Acoustics and Sonic Arts (LASom), Instituto de Artes, UNICAMP (Campinas, São Paulo), Santander Universities UK, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and Etopia Center for Art and Technology (Zaragoza) • personal support Silvia Jánošková, Maria Cecília Gomes, and all those from Tefé and the riverine communities of Baré, Boa Esperança, Jarauá, and Horizonte, whose support and hands-on assistance made the fieldwork possible within the Amanã and Mamirauá territories in Amazônia • With deep gratitude to the multitude of non-human beings whose expressions contribute to the making of this work, acknowledged as co-creators • installation set up Peter Szely • production TONSPUR Kunstverein Wien • artistic director Georg Weckwerth • special thanks Jacob Eriksen, Palma E. Christian

TONSPUR_passage | Micro Museum for Sound
MQ Wien
24.2.–3.5.25
daily 10–20 h
60 min (∞)

Preview: Sun 23 FEB 5pm Opening words: Jacob Eriksen