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Sounak Das

wetenschap & techniek , video , urban , spiritualiteit , sculptuur , Objecten , Media , Lichaam , interactief , installatie , fotografie , film , Experimenteel , DIY , Digitale technologie , Diaspora , Dekolonisatie , cross-over , Conceptueel , Audiovisueel , Artistiek onderzoek

My practice is rooted in the dialectic interplay of identity, belonging, and the lived experiences of existing as a minority within shifting cultural landscapes. Operating at the intersection of image, sound, installation, and technology, with a strong focus on storytelling, bodily experience, and audience participation.

Driven by the deep curiosity in science and spirituality, I interrogate the metaphysical and speculative possibilities of art as a means of inquiry. I employ a multidisciplinary approach, blending emerging technologies with traditional mediums to create interactive, immersive experiences that engage viewers on multi-sensory and cognitive levels. Through this fusion, I explore the entangled relationships between human, machine and nature questioning how these intersections shape perception, memory and reality.

I began my artistic journey as a photographer and gradually expanded into immersive and speculative realms of art and design; investigating the tensions between technological advancement and natural ecosystems. Central to my work is the examination of coexistence, how digital and organic worlds collide, merge, and redefine one another. Found objects, thrift stores and waste materials embody narratives that become a part of my speculation. I wish to uncover how digital and analog apparatus negotiates our perception of time, creating distinct temporal textures, engaging in practices of reuse to reorient materials, objects, systems and computational processes beyond their original purposes.

I believe my art serves as a space for critical dialogue one that confronts the complexities of Anthropocene, cultural hybridity, and the ever-shifting boundaries between self and society. Through speculative storytelling and sensory engagement, I seek to unravel the unseen forces that shape our realities, prompting viewers to question their own lived experiences in an increasingly digitally mediated world.

Static N Spirit (I)
Static N Spirit (I) - Through an Immersive-Performative-Ritual the installation explores the sacred in the mechanical, reimagining machine noise as a form of techno-spiritual ritual. Drawing from Eastern philosophies that view vibration as the foundation of existence, this sculptural sound installation transforms the hum of motors and metal into mechanical mantras—echoing the transcendental power of chanting and mantra. Built from the scrap and found materials of Rotterdam's urban landscape, these machines are given voice through a network of ESP32 microcontrollers, motor drivers, DC motors, metal plates and rods. Bridging cybernetics and esotericism, the work invites audiences into a sonic pilgrimage, where breathing rhythms and machine resonance merge into a meditative experience. Through this entanglement of human and machine, the project questions the boundaries between the organic and the artificial, seeking the divine in the mundane of the everyday. (Developed during the Summer Sessions 2025 at V2_Lab for the Unstable Media)
(Per)Sonifying the Universal Mind
(Per)Sonifying the Universal Mind - During Horst Arts and Music festival, I transformed the natural energy of Asiat Park into sound. Using sensors and an EEG headset, I created a live audio experience from the vibrations of plants, rocks, soil and even brainwaves of festival-goers. The title plays with the idea of both personifying and sonifying which means converting signals from plants, rocks, and brain activity into sound, allowing people to hear the hidden rhythms of nature and mind. Today visitors step into a structure imagined as an “energy portal,” where nature and consciousness meet through sound. The installation invites participants to slow down, breathe, and listen. Subtle rhythms of air, water, and insects are amplified into an evolving, meditative soundscape. Brainwave activity adds another layer, echoing ancient chanting practices. Rooted in both science and spirituality, the work draws from quantum theory and Vedic philosophy, especially the idea of Advaita, that everything is connected. By tuning into hidden natural frequencies, the project encourages a deeper reflection on presence, perception, and our bond with the environment.
If it Hertz?
If it Hertz? - An immersive, Audio-Visual Installation that transforms the tunnel space into an Electromagnetic Pulse zone combining projection mapping, distorted videos and sculptures with cables. The EMP Zone speculates a world disrupted by electric interference as a metaphor for the fragility of hyper-digitalized systems and the haunting strangeness of urban life, reimagined from my previous works.
‘how thoughts chant’
‘how thoughts chant’ - In today's techno-centric world, electric and mechanical noises are in abundance, as if a mechanical chanting is shaping our daily activities and psychological states. Our brain usually adjusts the noise we receive around us and tune it to our cognition. How does our brain tune the noise that exists beyond our cognition (spectrum?)? Can we alter the sound with our mental state? Can we and do we want to experience electronic sound produced with brain wave feedback? With the help of EEG 'how thoughts chant' makes tangible what processes (could) take place beyond our knowing. The installation is an interactive, immersive, auditory and performative experience, where the existing noise in the space starts to transform into continuous feedback once the EEG headset is in contact with the brain. Depending on the mental state of the participant, and how the noises inside the space influence the brain; the brain changes the noises, its frequency, harmony and pitch, without control in continuous feedback.
In the Simulacrum
In the Simulacrum - The project aims to challenge the traditional perspectives on climate change by presenting through the eyes of the beholder in contrast to machine processing. It delves into the experiences of individuals and landscapes offering a unique and immersive exploration of the human relationship with the environment. The installation titled ‘In The Simulacrum’ is a reflection of the artist who recently moved from the Global South to Western Europe. His encounter with snow for the first time sparked a profound reflection on how an artificial entity would perceive and process the concept of a ‘White Horizon’ without prior knowledge. The introspection led to the design of an immersive installation in a smoky room with dry ice to resemble the concept of ‘Clouds’ with 4 channel Audio-Visual works.
MMXXIII (2023), The Imaginarium of Faraday Cage
MMXXIII (2023), The Imaginarium of Faraday Cage - Converging with the collective knowledge of information available in the phase of digitalization, the strangeness that I encountered in the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh reveal a techno-centric asylum which is the norm in the late-capital era. We relish their directness but do not wish to be touched by their haunting quality. It has transformed from the experience and imagination of a digital age rendezvous from the photographic series ‘Wire Formation’. Sectie C, Foto Festival Eindhoven 2023
Audi-ology / Audio-logos
Audi-ology / Audio-logos - How would we conceptualize the idea of sound adhering every civilization and revolutionary eras? Was it ¬¬archived in any format or is it all synthesized in the age of digital era? In our geographic positioning, and diverse cultural practices there are some chronicles of civilization. The intension of this knowledge was to share and discover more of the Earth and its habitants. Since the technology of capturing air was a phenomenon until it is the everyday life to communicate within the earthly fluid from any altitude. The Audi-ology/Audio-logos is an idealized library of sound escapes which has archived the noises of the emergence of Earth and its Beings. Since the closure of the Church all it’s catalogues and recoded albums are unaware. What remains are a record of noises from every elements of nature becoming an upheaval of our advancement in the history of its making. Surviving in the midst of Land and Water; with a border of air to breathe.
Faraday’s After-Effect
Faraday’s After-Effect - How does data travel? Does it have a language? Can we listen to them? Are we a part of the metadata that exist in real time? Converging with the collective knowledge of information available in the phase of digitalization, the strangeness that I encounter in the streets of Dhaka reveal a techno-centric asylum which is the norm in the late-capital era. We relish their directness but do not wish to be touched by their haunting quality. This mixed media manifestation is an audio-visual experience consisting of seven cathode ray tubes (CRTs) that have been stripped of their covers to expose the insides; one of which that is malfunctioned hanging diagonally while the other six are working. The CRTs are mounted in a wire frame that is above 16 ft high and is inspired from polyhedral shapes reminding us of structure and form. The screens show an extension of my previous work dubbed Wire Formation in which I create a record of the visual clutter that occurs due to the entanglement of wires and represents the chaotic reality of Dhaka city. Wires have been an element which is the most common phenomenon that is in abundant to the visual consumption in the city. The installation consists of inorganic and nonfunctional noises that actually do not mind and matter but are continuously competing against each other to gain attention from people nearby — a sample of the soundscape in which the average city dweller is immersed in unconsciously.
Wire Formation
Wire Formation - The photographic series is a culmination of my thoughts living in the chaos of the city called Dhaka. Rendering the visibility of this technological ontology that subtends the marvels of the cyber omniscience and electric omnipotence from the margins of our vision and accumulated knowledge, making it the central subject of our entangled reality. It is a gaze towards the intricate relation among human-nature-technology exposing the profound impact of urbanization and digitalization on society and landscapes in the 21st Century. The photographic series focuses on the electrical structures, masses of wires and the environment that have become an integral part of the South Asian norm, entailing the socio-political, cultural and environmental implications from digital transformation. Rendering how analogue to digital conversation has visually affected our surroundings, changing the city’s fabric and the resources used to build the digital infrastructures, making it the central subject of technocentric reality.
Urban Monuments
Urban Monuments - Viewed through the nocturnal gaze, Dhaka’s roads become elevated corridors which crisscross over the entire city, a city in the process of expansion as the locals are stressed, dawdling near the traffic. Constructing the first overhead Metro Railway for feasible commute, The unprecedented growth of a city’s infrastructure amuses any explorer in the dark. The developing city has its own supernatural reflection at night, after the day has burnt out. Resonating in the midnight silence, the banal monumental structures transform Dhaka into a modern city. This ethos manifests in competing urbanization in the capital city to which I belong. Exploring the wider spaces of a crowded city, my intention is to observe these monuments of invisibility with several light sources projecting from uncanny directions.

Practices of Alliance Residency

Datum:
Locatie: Vlampijpstraat 84 3534 AR
In samenwerking met: Amarte X Creative Coding Utrecht (CCU)
https://creativecodingutrecht.nl/nl

Summer Sessions

Datum:
Locatie: Eendrachtsstraat 10
In samenwerking met: V2_Lab for Unstable Media

During the residency, SD explored the sacred in the mechanical, reimagining machine noise as a form of techno-spiritual ritual. Drawing from Eastern philosophies that view vibration as the foundation of existence, this sculptural sound installation transforms the hum of motors and metal into mechanical mantras—echoing the transcendental power of chanting and mantra.

https://v2.nl/topics/summer-sessions

Artist in Residency

Datum:
Locatie: Ridderstraat 3A, 5211 JZ
In samenwerking met: Het Nest

During the residency at Het Nest, multimedia artist Sounak Das has kick-started his project Static N Spirit (II), an interactive sound installation that centers on the human body. Using a homemade wearable sensor, heartbeat and breathing are converted into sound in real time, controlled by a mechanical instrument. Visitors were invited to participate and experience how their own body rhythms influence the installation.

https://hetnestdenbosch.nl/

Summer Sessions

Datum:
Locatie: Eendrachtsstraat 10, 3012 XL
In samenwerking met: V2_Lab for Unstable Media

During the residency, SD explored the sacred in the mechanical, reimagining machine noise as a form of techno-spiritual ritual. Drawing from Eastern philosophies that view vibration as the foundation of existence, this sculptural sound installation transforms the hum of motors and metal into mechanical mantras—echoing the transcendental power of chanting and mantra.

https://v2.nl/topics/summer-sessions

Horst Expo

Datum:
Locatie: Asiat Park, Vilvoorde, Brussels
In samenwerking met: Horst Arts & Music

During Horst Arts and Music festival Sounak Das transformed the natural energy of Asiat Park into sound. He performed using sensors and an EEG headset, created a live audio experience from the vibrations of plants, rocks, soil and even brainwaves of festival-goers. The installation invites participants to slow down, breathe, and listen. Subtle rhythms of air, water, and insects are amplified into an evolving, meditative soundscape. Brainwave activity adds another layer, echoing ancient chanting

https://www.horstartsandmusic.com/arts/sounak-das

NeuroNarratives

Datum:
In samenwerking met: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience

NeuroNarratives was initiated to answer a profound question:
Can understanding the brain bring meaningful changes to society?
When it comes to mental health and psychiatric conditions, the answer is undoubtedly yes. But is that the whole story? Can knowledge of how our brains and minds work challenge our beliefs, confront our biases, and reshape how we think? Ultimately, could this knowledge enhance our individual and collective well-being?

https://neuro-narratives.com/
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