MMCA Performing Arts 2026: Deep Time
Matteo Marangoni / Dieter Vandoren, Komorebi
Date & Time : August 24 (Mon) - September 3 (Thu) (Schedule to be announced)
Venue : To be announced
Genre : Sound Installation
Komorebi
"Komorebi" (Byeonnui in Korean), the title of this project, is a Japanese word meaning “sunlight shining through trees.” In the work, a swarm of artificial creatures make music in response to the sun, the clouds, and the shadows of trees moving in the wind. Specifically, the trajectories of shadows cast across the forest floor are translated into sound, allowing audiences to experience the movements of light and shade acoustically. The project suggests that “life” is not an exceptional property of organic life forms, but also a property of complex systems reaching beyond biological life as we understand it. The aesthetics implied in the word komorebi—the warmth that briefly lingers in shaded spaces—resonate with the artist’s intention to capture subtle, invisible changes in nature and amplify them through sound. Unlike many digital works that operate within virtual environments of screens and speakers, Komorebi occupies the real space around the MMCA through a swarm of electronic creatures. Each creature detects the surrounding light and sound through an independent processor and exchanges signals with the others, thereby autonomously generating a spatial music that constantly changes in response to weather and time. Anyone encountering this artificial swarm—whether a museum visitor, a passerby, or a nonhuman presence moving through the site—may witness the moment when a fleeting beam of sunlight is translated into sound.
Matteo Marangoni
He is an artist based in the Netherlands and originally from Italy, working at the intersection of music, visual art, and technology who, creates works in which sound is experienced with the whole body. Through robotic instruments and artificial creatures, he explores sound as a mediator between humans, machines, and nonhuman life forms. Inspired by ecoacoustics, his practice proposes new ways of approaching intelligence and consciousness from an ecological perspective. Working across museums and public spaces, Marangoni investigates how sound can generate new modes of existence.
Dieter Vandoren
He is an artist, performer, and creative technology developer based in the Netherlands and originally from Belgium, whose practice draws on his background in electronic music, IT, and interactive architecture. Through the creation of spatial audiovisual instruments and environments, his work centers on embodiment, immersion, and primary sensory experience. Co-founder of the collective artist platform iii in The Hague, his works have been presented at major international venues including Ars Electronica, Club Transmediale, and Akademie der Künste Berlin, among others.
Project by: Matteo Marangoni / Dieter Vandoren
PCB Design: Daan Johan
DSP Programming: Riccardo Marogna
OTA Programming: Caspar Krijgsman
Assembly: Francesco Di Maggio, Tingyi Jiang, Maria Oosterveen, Siavash Jafari
Commissioned by: Into the Great Wide Open
Produced in partnership with: Crossing Parallels (TU Delft), Highlight Delft
Financial Support: Creative Industries Fund NL, Stichting Stokroos
Presentation in Korea supported by: Stroom Den Haag, Performing Arts Fund NL
Presentation in Korea operating entity: Nearfuture Station
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
