Two Seas and Vinorun, two immersive installations directed by Observatory founder Ben Sheppee, premiere at Nxt Museum in Amsterdam on Thursday 22 October as part of ADE Arts & Culture 2026. Presented by EarthSonic, In Place of War's project telling the story of climate change through music, the works combine new music by Paranoid London and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital with field recordings, research and film from Finland, Uzbekistan and Malaysian Borneo.
Two Seas pairs two bodies of water: the Bothnian Bay at Oulu, Finland, where the winter sea ice is retreating, and the Aral Sea at Muynak, Uzbekistan, where the water has already gone. The film finds what the two places share, then traces the climate system connecting them. Its music is by Paranoid London with artists from both countries, and collaborators including Matt Black of Coldcut.
Vinorun explores the traditional ecological knowledge of Sabah's Momogun communities through rinait, their ritual chants. It is a collaboration between the Malaysian NGO Pertubuhan Kolektif Seni Budaya Sabah, EarthSonic, The University of Manchester and the British Council, with music by Hartnoll and Rungus musician Razif Ajip built from field recordings and the chants. Director of photography Alistair Lomas spent a month documenting the community, returning with footage, phytograms and solargraphs. Sheppee combined that material with research validated by the community to show how its people live in harmony with nature.
Sheppee directed both works with the team at Observatory, a London-based studio making immersive content for live events, installations and broadcast, working from hundreds of hours of footage and field recordings. He has also shown work as an artist at Tate Liverpool, P3 Ambika, ICA London and SFMOMA.
"The conversation around climate change is so intense that many people feel the problem is beyond them," says Sheppee. "Telling people what to think doesn't work. These installations put you inside a place, show you what is happening there and trust you to draw your own conclusions. What you work out for yourself is what stays with you."
"EarthSonic exists so that communities living with climate change can tell their own stories through music. Ben and the Observatory team have brought musicians, researchers and the communities themselves into two installations that stay true to the places they come from," says Ruth Daniel, CEO and Artistic Director of In Place of War / EarthSonic.
The premiere runs from 17:00 to 21:00 and includes both installations, a live AV set by Paranoid London, a performance by Natural Symphony and a panel discussion with Sheppee and the artists. Both installations will tour internationally in 2027.
Event details: https://nxtmuseum.com/event/nxt-museum-earthsonic-and-ade-arts-culture-present-premiere-sumuku-and-two-seas
Two Seas Project: https://www.earthsonic.org/two-seas
Vinorun Project: https://www.earthsonic.org/vinorun