Civa 2027 + 20 years sound:frame "cyclic rhythms"

Building on the 2026 annual programme and Civa’s thematic focus postacceleration, soundframe turns its attention to cyclic rhythms in its 20th anniversary year in 2027.

Everything at once, constantly available, ever faster, ever further: Digital infrastructures shape a present in which bodies, technologies, and social processes seem to be subject to continuous acceleration. Yet (ecological) systems follow their own rhythms. What happens when different temporalities intersect, interact, or even collide? Who sets the pace, who is forced to adapt, and whose time remains invisible?

cyclic rhythms takes these questions as its starting point, exploring repetition, return, interruption, and transformation. A cycle does not simply bring us back to where we began. Memories, bodies, and conditions change with each return. Revisiting twenty years of festival history and network-building is therefore also a way of engaging with the present: What continues to resonate? What needs to be reconsidered? And which relationships do we want to sustain?

Rhythm connects the thematic focus of 2027 with sound:frame’s origins. In audiovisual art, sound, moving images, and performance, different temporalities become directly perceptible and tangible. Loops, pauses, overlaps, and shifts can transform our perception and, at their best, open up new forms of collective attention.