What stories do we hear in the absence of noise? Or, what stories consist of the noise? The sonic realities rooted in the landscape have no start or end. They exist beyond, under, and over their interment by the ever-present myths of modernity.

Over the course of this year, De Appel’s COOP study group: The Salt of the Earth has moved between __________ geology and speculation, field recording and folklore, between the politics of listening and acts of attunement. We have asked how narratives travel across soundwaves, carrying resistance across time and space.

The manifestation of The Salt of the Earth for the COOP SUMMIT 2026 unfolds as various modes of attunement to what remains in the layers of time, space and materiality of our shared experiences in Matera, and asks you to join in for a closer listening to what has been erased, hidden or forgotten. Through a 2 hour-long time-space encounter, we gather through __________ to listen deeply; as we mold, shape and sense what’s in our hands.

What spells can we cast to summon water from stone? We are only passing through.