MIT Spatial Sound Lab
The MIT Spatial Sound Lab is a community studio for making immersive sound productions and for researching the social possibilities of immersive audio, especially for public performance. Started in November 2019, thanks to a collaboration with d&b Audiotechnik and MIT Office of the Arts.
Website: sites.mit.edu/spatialsoundlab
Through sound, light, and movement, Paes and Água explore the relationship between the human body and invisible space. Their concept of "radical regeneration" transforms everyday objects—like DIY whistles—into bodily extensions that render air tangible through sound and motion. Their choreography generates sonic landscapes through movement, while their practice emphasizes environmental consciousness by creating performative works from found and recycled materials. The artists begin a five-week residency at the MIT Spatial Sound Lab in March 2025.
Xavier Paes
A transdisciplinary artist based in Porto, Paes works at the intersection of sound and visual arts, embracing performance, drawing, installation, photography, and painting through gleaning, activism, and multi-instrumentalism. A practitioner of "zenoise" philosophy, he explores parallel realities through acoustics, language, chaos, repetition, dérive, resonant bodies, echo, and ecology. His work has been presented at Portugal's Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto Municipal Gallery, Atelier Logicofobista, Oliva Arts Center, Lehmann+Silva Gallery, Galeria Zé dos Bois, and Zaratan. International venues include Villa Arson (Nice), Cafe OTO (London), NUB (Pistoia), Stichting Centrum (The Hague), OCCII (Amsterdam), La Pointe Lafayette (Paris), STUK (Leuven), Dar Meso (Tunis), and Overtoon (Brussels).
Inês Tartaruga Água
A multidisciplinary artist exploring sound and radical regeneration through DIY practices, Água has exhibited internationally since 2013. Notable presentations include Убежище/Suoja/Shelter Festival - Laboratory (Helsinki, 2019) and The Listening Affect (Porto, 2023). Her work has appeared at Atelier Logicofobista, Galeria DENTRO, Kunsthalle Freeport, Casa de Serralves (Porto), Casa das Conchas (Salamanca), Galeria Zé dos Bois (Lisbon), RadialSystem (Berlin), Cafe OTO (London), OCCII (Amsterdam), and La Pointe Lafayette (Paris). Água co-founded REFLUXO collective and DIES LEXIC duo (with Xavier Paes), and participates in the international collectives Mycelium (UK, Denmark, Italy, USA, and Portugal) and Porto-based MOSCXS.