Interfinity turns its gaze upwards—to exoplanets and the cosmos. The festival tells a continuous storyline, from the origins of humanity to the distant worlds beyond our solar system. Musically, the journey leads from the Baroque era to the modern age and culminates in a grand highlight: a production about exoplanets in the Messe Halle, developed in collaboration with the NCCR PlanetS research focus and performed by the Sinfonieorchester Basel.
With "Le Slie's," Fabrizio Di Salvo and Roberto Maqueda present a newly developed instrument based on the physical principles of the legendary Leslie speaker—the rotating loudspeaker system developed in the 1940s for the Hammond organ, which became world-famous for its characteristic, floating, and expansive sound movement. Twelve metal sound discs, rotating in a circle around the audience, create a vibrating, room-filling sound field—an acoustic experience reminiscent of the movement of celestial bodies and connecting in a unique and innovative way to the "Exoplanet" theme of the Interfinity Festival 2026. Like miniature planets, driven by mechanics, light, and sound, they orbit the central performer computer. Each unit unfolds its own "gravitational field" of resonance. Inspired by astrology and cosmology, a sensually perceptible, sonic planetary system emerges. The 12 sound stations—some made of metal, some of glass—are set in rotation by servo and solenoid motors and precisely controlled by a drummer. The system is complemented by a self-learning artificial intelligence that reacts in real time and generates independent sonic impulses. The interplay between musician and machine creates a dense acoustic tapestry of movement, resonance, and rhythmic variation.
The performance takes place in the imposing Maurerhalle at the Basel School of Applied Arts—a unique space whose industrial architecture and raw acoustics make the sound vividly tangible. The circular arrangement of the sound discs, combined with rotating light elements, transforms the space itself into an instrument, creating an immersive, technically precise sound installation at the intersection of music, machine, and perception.
Tickets are CHF 20 (CHF 10 for students up to age 26).

Website
interfinity.ch/en/leslie

Where
Maurerhalle
Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel
Vogelsangstrasse 15
4005 Basel

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