Sonica Festival 2026 unveils Glasgow programme

Sonica Festival 2026 unveils immersive Glasgow programme

Sonica Festival 2026 returns to Glasgow this autumn with 11 days of cutting-edge audiovisual art, experimental music, immersive installations and live performances across the city.

Running from Thursday 24th September to Sunday 4th October 2026, the ninth edition of the biennial festival will feature more than 170 artists and musicians from 21 countries, taking over venues including Pollok House, Buchanan Galleries, Tramway, St Ninian’s Church, The Glad Cafe and The Hunterian.

Pollok House becomes The Listening House

One of the major highlights of Sonica 2026 is The Listening House at Pollok House, a festival-within-a-festival transforming the historic mansion and gardens into a space for sonic experiments, interactive artworks and immersive installations.

Visitors can expect singing sculptures, mechanical birds, audiovisual environments, movement-responsive works and sound installations that explore the hidden worlds of plants, fungi, trees and unexpected technologies.

Buchanan Galleries hosts free installations

For the first time, Sonica Festival will take over spaces inside Buchanan Galleries, bringing experimental audiovisual art into the heart of Glasgow’s city centre.

Highlights include Scottish artist Rachel Maclean’s new AI-driven installation They’ve Got Your Eyes, roaming robotic bullhorns in The Unheard, and meditative sound experiences designed to make shoppers pause, listen and look again.

Sonica 2026 programme highlights

• Dinos Chapman opens the festival with a new audiovisual presentation.
• Suzanne Ciani performs in Scotland for the first time, closing the festival with Improvisation on Four Sequences.
• Paraorchestra and Charles Hazlewood perform Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.
• NYX bring experimental drone choir sounds to St Ninian’s Church.
• Lyra Pramuk presents the choral-electronic performance Hymnal.
• SHHE presents Thalassa, inspired by the sea, submerged histories and rising waters.
• Royal Scottish National Orchestra marks the tenth anniversary of David Bowie’s death with Philip Glass’s Symphony No.4 “Heroes”.

Immersive experiences across Glasgow

Sonica 2026 places listening at the centre of the festival. Audiences will encounter work created from underwater ecosystems, trees, fungi, broken vinyl records and even cosmic radiation.

Participatory installations will invite visitors to wear illuminated capes, lie blindfolded within sound environments, conduct flocks of sculptural birds and move through live performances where sound shifts according to proximity and movement.

Sonica 2026 venues

• Pollok House
• Buchanan Galleries
• Tramway
• St Ninian’s Church
• 25PES
• The Glad Cafe
• Rutherglen Old Parish
• Offline Glasgow
• The Hunterian

Tickets for Sonica Festival 2026

Festival passes and general tickets for Sonica 2026 will go on sale in early summer. Festival passes will offer discounted tickets to Tramway performances and access to free tickets for selected venue performances.

All installations will be free to visit.

Sonica Festival 2026 runs from 24 September to 4 October 2026 across Glasgow.