Sound as a malleable terrein
Het Hem, NL 2021
Sound as a Malleable Terrein was a two month sound research residency that took place at Het Hem during summer of 2021.
Through research into the temporal patterns of the area and experiments with the materiality and sonic qualities of the landscape the team developed different techniques to translate their collected data into a sonic terrain. Inspired by Henri Levebre and his theory of ‘rhythm-analysis’ the group took walks into the depths of ‘Het Hembrugterrein’ and performed listening exercises, collected data and field recordings.
The artists [Thessa Torsing, Nathan Marcus and Andreas Tegnander] synced with the land and soundscape; tuning their ears to the brushing of grass against a metal pipe, stones crumbling down a hill or a massive pile driver stomping its way through layers of soil. What is the sound of an environment being sculpted?
For archiving and naming the different types of rhythms the group used self-coined term RDM’s : Rhythm Distillation Methods. These methods are ways to extract rhythm from a certain place and/or time. Some of these methods are digital, others are analogue. In their research and composition both of these worlds are interacting and associating with one another. For example: analysing compressing and stretching fieldrecordings to find hidden rhythms beyond human temporality.
The RDM’s are used as the building blocks to create a new terrain where the visitors are invited to become sonic seismologists, to explore the rhythms and vibrations of the terrain. In the composition you hear the morphing of the terrain, traversing through time, both through human induced vibrations and the natural sculpting of the landscape: a constant motion of destruction and rebuilding. What would it sound like if you could record the crumbling of a building over time, or an ammunition factory turning into a creative hub? Seemingly still materials become actors, mimicking the birds who are orchestrated by the endless pounding of pile drivers.
To grasp a rhythm it necessary to have been grasped by it; one must let oneself go, give oneself over, abandon oneself to its duration.
(Lefebvre 2004:27)
The Rhythmanalysist “thinks with his body, not in abstract, but in lived temporality”
(Lefebvre 2004 [1992]: 21).
Supported by
Creative Industries Fund NL
Het Hem
Sound as a malleable terrein
Het Hem, NL 2021
Sound as a Malleable Terrein was a two month sound research residency that took place at Het Hem during summer of 2021.
Through research into the temporal patterns of the area and experiments with the materiality and sonic qualities of the landscape the team developed different techniques to translate their collected data into a sonic terrain. Inspired by Henri Levebre and his theory of ‘rhythm-analysis’ the group took walks into the depths of ‘Het Hembrugterrein’ and performed listening exercises, collected data and field recordings.
The artists [Thessa Torsing, Nathan Marcus and Andreas Tegnander] synced with the land and soundscape; tuning their ears to the brushing of grass against a metal pipe, stones crumbling down a hill or a massive pile driver stomping its way through layers of soil. What is the sound of an environment being sculpted?
For archiving and naming the different types of rhythms the group used self-coined term RDM’s : Rhythm Distillation Methods. These methods are ways to extract rhythm from a certain place and/or time. Some of these methods are digital, others are analogue. In their research and composition both of these worlds are interacting and associating with one another. For example: analysing compressing and stretching fieldrecordings to find hidden rhythms beyond human temporality.