What we possess and what possesses us – these have always been political questions, philosophical questions, and quietly personal ones. Belonging: Everything I have, Nothing I own is a new song cycle for vocal quartet that tries to hold all three registers at once.

The work was composed for Storm in a Jar, a new vocal quartet whose sound made me want to write music that moves between the monumental and the intimate, between the chanted and the spoken, between a single sustained word and a long, searching sentence.

The texts are inspired by four sources, each of which approaches belonging from a different direction. Rosa Luxemburg writes about the land and the water – what was always here before us, what gets taken, what can never truly be owned. Hannah Arendt gives us the table: the space that stands between people, holding them together and apart, belonging to no one and therefore to everyone. James Baldwin asks us to look at each other, really look, and argues that this witnessing is the most fundamental thing we owe one another. And a fourth text, *Is My Name*, moves through the interior – the self inventorying everything it lays claim to, and ending with a question it cannot fully answer.

Storm in a Jar tour the work from September throughout the Netherlands, in a programme that also includes new compositions by Iannis Kyriakides, Nicoline Soeter and Rianne Wilbers, alongside music by Thelonious Monk. Tour dates 2026-2027 in the agenda.

Tags: Storm in a Jar

The new virtual reality experience Cycle by visual artists and filmmakers Amit Palgi and Matunda Groenendijk will have its first public try-out at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), followed by its official world premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Cycle offers an immersive exploration of movement, time, and perception through a circular, meditative VR environment. Viewers are invited into a dynamic visual world where sound and motion continuously reshape one another, creating a sensory experience that evolves with every loop.

The music and sound design for Cycle are created by Poulson Sq. Their carefully layered score and sound effects form the sonic backbone of the work, blending acoustic warmth with immersive spatial sound.

With Cycle, Palgi and Groenendijk merge artistic vision and technological innovation, presenting a VR experience that highlights the possibilities of immersive storytelling in contemporary digital art.

>29/1-8/2 IFFR Rotterdam
>12/3-18/3 SXSW Austin Texas

Tags: Matunda Groenendijk, Amit Palgi, Cycle, Poulson Sq., IFFR, SXSW