61 is the first work out of my artistic research on the phenomenology of sound, or the phenomenology of listening, and was developed during a residency at Overtoon. The installation researches my own history as a listener. In 61 I am working with the recordings I made in my parental home a couple of years ago. The house itself has disappeared since then.
In those last months of the house, I recorded all the sounds I could get my hands on. 61 works with recordings of room tones - the signature background sounds of a room - and a special surround sound setup, using normal and hyperdirectional speakers. The hyperdirectional speakers are mounted on moving pan/tilt units, thus creating a continuously moving grid of sound. It explores how a house - my house, your house, our house - sounds. Which role does sound play in making us feel at home? What does 'a home' sound like, what does your home sound like? How much is this background sound part of our own history, our own identity? How has it contributed to the person I am today, or the person I will be tomorrow?
61 is an installation with a delicate balance between the room tones of 61, the different kinds of speakers and the space where the installation is exhibited. This delicate balance doesn't survive the transition to the web. The track above plays a stereo study of the room tones used in 61. You can watch a trailer from the presentation at STUK here.
I dedicate this work to my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters who made this home, my first home, the magical place it was. Thank you Moeke, Vake, Sofie, Sigrid, Kristoff, Thomas, Joachim and Sander.
- Production
- recordings by
- in collaboration with
- With the support of
- Overtoon
- Stijn Demeulenaere, Thomas Demeulenaere
- Kunstenwerkplaats
- STUK arts centre
- Cimatics
- The Flemish Community Commission of the Brussels Capital Region
- The Flemish Community
