Carlos Casas

LACUNAE, 2025

November 29 – November 29, 2025

Carlos Casas. Still from TBA21–Academy Residency video by Maco.

Carlos Casas, LACUNAE, sound installation and performance at the TBA21 Solstice Festival, June 2025, Ocean Space, Venice. Organized by TBA21–Academy within the framework of S+T+ARTS4WaterII, an initiative by the European Commission. Still from a video by Furio Ganz.

Academy Commissions

Commissions

TBA21–Academy

Carlos Casas

LACUNAE 2025

Following the research process, LACUNAE has been presented live at various stages of the project, including different contributions each time between June and November 2025.

LACUNAE explores a speculative narrative of the origin of Venice. By capturing the above and underwater richness of spatial sounds, the project creates an unprecedented auditory map of the lagoon. It aims to foster new ways of connecting with neighboring species and environments, illuminating the unexplored and benthic zones of the lagoon. Sonifying and transducing climate data into sound, the final output will make complex and abstract concepts more tangible and accessible. LACUNAE is a film and sound installation that immerses the audience in a spatial model of the Venice lagoon using ambisonic recordings. Spectators journey through layers of sound, from atmospheric ambiences to underwater depths. They experience the turbid waters' sonic textures, including migrating birds, fish, gray shrimp, and mussels, alongside human activities from ports, infrastructure, and research. The installation invites exploration of the lagoon’s ecological and cultural dimensions, offering a dynamic auditory perspective on this unique environment.

LACUNAE was first presented as an ongoing sound installation at POROUS, organized by TBA21–Academy and Villa Arson in June 2025, with the support of the European Commission Initiative S+T+ARTS4Water II on the occasion of World Ocean Day, the United Nations Conference on the Oceans & Biennale des Arts et de l'Océan 2025. Later that month, it was premiered at TBA21 Solstice Festival, curated by María Montero Sierra at Ocean Space, Venice, as part of the concluding event of the TBA21–Academy's residency program, organized within the framework of STARTS4WaterII and featuring live performance, sound, and participatory installation dedicated to deep listening to the multispecies stories of the Venice lagoon. LACUNAE's live installation at Ocean Space, Venice, in November 2025, marks the culmination of the artist's residency and extended research of the Venice Lagoon multispecies auditory map.

This work was commissioned by TBA21–Academy within the framework of the S+T+ARTS 4Water II residency program with the support of Konsortium Deutsche Meeresforschung (KDM) within the Prep4Blue project as a contribution to the EU Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030, and with the collaboration of Ca' Foscari, CNR-ISMAR, ETT, and Venice International University.

NEXT EVENT

November 29, 2025, 12–7 PM

Ongoing live installation with final performance featuring Sofia Pozdniakova, 5–5:40 PM

Ocean Space, Venice

Curated by María Montero Sierra

For a day, Ocean Space will be transformed into an immersive environment, submerging the audience into a sound and video installation tamed by the Venetian fog. The evocative image of a fisherman rowing through the mist haunted the artist and inspired his research. He has transformed the popularized story of the origin of Venice into an acoustic exploration above and underwater, presenting the lagoon as a musical instrument. Carp mating, moeche, blue crab, flamingos, cranes, and wild ducks mixed with the anthropic sounds of boat engines, the everyday laughter of children, and the famous city bells, all intermingled with the collaborative explorations of the popular regional songs, including the previous performance by the choir RHIZA Voce Specifica. The resulting soundscape, capturing one full acoustic day in Venice, unveils a continuous harmony between the natural environment and the history of music in Venice, nurturing a closer relationship with the neighboring species. This is an invitation to open our senses and connect through ears and skin to the benthos and the creatures living above, ancient stones, wet formations, as well as popular songs such as the "Canto dei Battipali", a well-known labor rhythm used to coordinate the gesture of hammering down the poles that sustain the Venetian grounds and mark its channels. Ocean Space's architectural nature amplifies the acoustic experience of the recordings and the live sounds, infusing additional textures to Carlos Casas' performance, modulating the sound and adjusting the installation to the weather and rhythm of the audience, and to the special contribution of the contemporary opera singer Sofia Pozdniakova.

With this final presentation, LACUNAE concludes its auditory map, harmonic timeline, and visual exploration, reaching the most abstract notes of the lagoon. Inspired by and honoring the late Venetian composer, Luigi Nono, whose famous avant-garde version of the opera Prometeo premiered at this same church of San Lorenzo in 1985, Casas offers a deep textural listening of Venice.

ARTWORK PRESENTATIONS

POROUS, Villa Arson, Nice, June 7, 2025
Installation, sound, lights, 47 min

Performance, 20 min

TBA21 Solstice Festival, Ocean Space, Venice, June 19, 2025

Sound performance and installation, 50 min

In collaboration with the choir RHIZA Voce Specifica

Choir artistic direction: Hanna M. Civico

With: Hanna M. Civico, Beatrice Di Fonzo, Giovanni Paladini, Roberta Ruggiero.

Organised in collaboration with C.T.R. Centro Teatrale di Ricerca Venezia

Local producer: Alessandra Messali

Camera: Furio Ganz

Motorboats: Marino Padovan, Andrea Vendramin, Nadir Zitti

Rowing boats: Ermanno Antonioli, Federico Mantovan, Gloria Rogliani A.S.D., Diego Scaggiante

Sound Engineer: Tony Myatt

Research advisor: Fantina Madricardo (CNR - ISMAR)

Thanks to Federico Bastasi, Ivan Bognolo, Giacomo Montereale Gavazzi (Joint Research Centre, European Commission), Cooperativa San Marco—the fishers of Burano (Igor Coccato and Omar Rosso), Coro Marmolada (Claudio Favret and Sergio Piovesan), Giampietro Messali, Camilla Pietrabissa, and Paolo Rosso.

UPCOMING: Ocean Space, Venice, November 29, 2025
Ongoing live installation, 7h

Performance, 40 min

Artist: Carlos Casas

Performance: Sofia Pozdniakova

Curator: María Montero Sierra

Sound mixing: Armand Lesecq

Project Manager: Benedetta d'Ettorre

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Carlos Casas is a filmmaker and artist whose practice encompasses film, sound, and visual arts. His works have been presented at International exhibitions like the Venice Biennale, the Shanghai Biennale, the Bangkok Biennale, and the Istanbul Biennial. His films have been screened and awarded at festivals around the world, like the Venice Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Buenos Aires International Film Festival, Mexico International Film Festival, CPH DOX Copenhagen, and FID Marseille. Retrospectives of his films have been presented international festivals and cinematheques from Madrid, Mexico to Bruxelles, his work has been exhibited and performed in international art institutions and galleries, such as Tate Modern in London, Fondation Cartier, Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou in Paris, NTU CCA Singapore; Hangar Bicocca and La Triennale in Milan, CCCB Barcelona, Matadero Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Madrid, MAAT Lisbon, Bozar, Kunsten Festival des Arts Bruxelles among others.

ABOUT S+T+ARTS

S+T+ARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances between science, technology and the arts, in order to cultivate technological innovation centered on human needs and values.

S+T+ARTS4WaterII–Ports in Transformation is dedicated to tackling the complex environmental and societal challenges present in Europe’s ports and port cities.

Learn more about this edition of TBA21–Academy Residency Program in Venice HERE.