Listening with the IJ

Eco Acoustics and Holland Festival invite you to a soundwalk through which you will explore the sonic identity of the IJ. The IJ is not only the largest water body of Amsterdam, but also a complex living entity: shaped by underwater organisms, currents, boats, machines, winds, and by the many human presences connected to it, in the present, as well as in memory and imagination. It can be understood as an extended community, continuously in transformation. Voicing this expanded community, Eco Acoustics guides participants through an embodied listening experience, inviting multiple ways of connecting to the environment and to each other.

The experience begins at sunrise at the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, where we gather and board a boat for a quiet journey on the water. We then continue on foot along the shores of the IJ. Through different listening practices, we attune to the water, to the water element within ourselves, and to the shared sonic environment. The session includes elements of Deep Listening, Qi Gong, and listening to the underwater world through hydrophones. The walk concludes with a shared breakfast.

Listening with the IJ is supported by Muziekgebouw Productiehuis.

Eco Acoustics
Stichting Eco Acoustics is an Amsterdam-based platform exploring listening as a shared ecological and social practice. Through soundwalks, installations, and participatory formats, it engages environments as living entities, bringing together human and more-than-human perspectives. Its work is rooted in collective listening practices inspired by Deep Listening, fostering forms of attention that are embodied, inclusive, and non-judgemental.

Projects emerge through co-creation with participants and specific sites, combining field recordings, shared experiences, and reflection. The foundation was initiated by artists Maaike van der Linde and Dario Calderone, whose backgrounds in music, composition, and socially engaged art inform the development of Eco Acoustics as a space where artistic practice, environmental awareness, and collective experience intersect.