the sound of shadow catalogue (2010)
DESCRIPTION
The Sound of Shadow is both an exhibition and a screening that researches into how sound affects image in the time based arts by excluding it. A group of selected artists develop and produce silent films, videos and unstable media works that invite the camera (and eyes) to stand in for the microphone (and ears). Manifestly using visual instead of auditory means, the artists concentrate on finding fresh concepts and innovative approaches to create enthralling moving images in every possible genre of the audio-visual domain. Showing the resulting works in the shape of a ‘symikony’ (meaning ‘visual symphony’) in three movements/parts with beamers set up in a silent project space, The Sound of Shadow underscores both the significance of silence and its prevailing absence in present-day time based arts.TRANSCRIPT
Try-Outs
30 March-3 April 2010, 10 am-6 pm (open studio)
Het Basisburo
Tolstraat 129, Amsterdam
Exhibition I
5-7 May 2010, 10 am-10 pm
Het Machinegebouw
Pazzanistraat 41, Amsterdam
Cultuurpark Westergasfabriek
Cinema
5-7 May 2010, 8 pm
Bioscoop Het Ketelhuis
Pazzanistraat 4, Amsterdam
Cultuurpark Westergasfabriek
Exhibition II
17 September-16 October 2010, Tu-Sa 11 am-5 pm
CBK Amsterdam
Oost-Watergraafsmeer
Oranje Vrijstaatkade 71, Amsterdam
The Sound of Shadow
THE SOUND OF SHADOW 2
16 Projections in Space, 3 Movements in Time, 1 Silence
Although there are exceptions to the rule, most present-day filmmakers, video- and new
media artists are increasingly abandoning the metier of constructing cinematographic space
from mere visuals (e.g. movement, angle, frame, choice of décor, colour, editing, after-effects,
animation) in favour of interlocking visuals with sound or sound effects. More to the point:
they basically have become dependent on audio to complement or complete the visuals.
Conversely spectators are growing accustomed to seeing with their ears, consequently
developing an unwanted ‘deafness’ to images. Where for example the films of Hitchcock
induce, famously effective, a visual apprehension of ‘the scary parts’, later suspense thrillers
count wholly on the suggestive effects of ‘daunting audio’ (Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws).
Nowadays horror movies probably make one laugh (or yawn) when one mutes the sound.
A master of the silent movie era, Sergei Eisenstein, stressed the decisive importance of
visuals. He meticulously took care that the images on the silver screen, albeit devoid ofTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 3
audible voice (i.e. synchronised recorded sound), were singing a visually constructed song of their own.
Perhaps logically his theory of film editing does not deviate much from the basic guidelines to music
composing, with a strong emphasis on metric, rhythm and (over) tonality. But even Eisenstein
used a separate musical score to accompany his features, as was common in his time.
In the time-based arts sound (i.e. noise/music/dialogue) is often employed – intelligently,
superbly and admirably - as thematic adhesive and ‘emo-managing-device’: To (re) direct the
spectator’s gaze, to keep his attention (Bill Viola), to induce active participation (Bruce Nauman)
or to create unity in large-scale multi-screen or immersive video compositions (Doug Aitken).
However in worst case scenarios sound is utilized to patch up floundering or
failing visuals. This can only happen because also in the arts (and not just in the film making
industries) there is a growing dependence on sound as an image-enhancing tool.
Erecting fluid architecture, open-textured sculpture and pictographic narratives from light
and shadow (for what is a projection other than a fleeting show of light and shadow) is a
profound artistic challenge and should not be the pleasure and privilege just reserved for theTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 4
likes of star editor Pablo Ferro, who stringently edits without soundtrack. Yet undeniably it
is hard to make a beguiling film or video without sound. Likewise it is hard to watch a silent
film or video without growing impatient or anxious.
The Sound of Shadow wants to make amends. The project, designed as a ‘symikony’
(a symphony for images - see page 42) in three movements, seeks to re-enliven the quick-witted
resourcefulness induced by the sharp stitch of deprivation which a hundred years ago caused
the first silent movie pioneers to come up with groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting ideas.
It aspires to create silent projected time-based works that are as engrossing as their ‘regular’
sounded counterparts, thereby not only demanding a heightened attentiveness of the artist
but also a newly inspired involvement of the sensitive and sensual spectator - thereby gently
plugging into the field of synaesthesia, where currently innovative art forms are being
brokered. It endeavours to create meaning, beauty, fascination, marvel and sublimation with
one hand tied to the back.
Also The Sound of Shadow aims to come off with a slightly political edge. Sound artist THE SOUND OF SHADOW 7
Bill Fontana once remarked that inventors of the industrial apparatus never took
(nor take) into account the additional noise production (or noise pollution) of their devices.
Urban live is unwittingly clattered with noise because eminent importance is given
to the faculty of vision.
From an opposite position video artist Artur Zmijewski argues in his manifesto The Applied
Social Arts (2007) that the public has lost its ability ‘to read images’ because contemporary
society is so cluttered with visual incentives it is difficult for any person to establish focal
reference. Deafened by clatter, blinded by clutter: the predicament of modern man? It’s not
just urban myth to state that when a person becomes deaf, he develops better vision. The
Sound of Shadow wants to defy the burden of ‘visual illiteracy’ by dipping its concert of moving
images in an arena of silence, like a mystic descending into the void, thus making room
for the breath of God. Teresa van Twuijver, Summer 2009
THE SOUND OF SHADOW 8
Works & Artists
Anne-Marie van Meel
They invented this world and this world.
What they write will happen.
When they write this has to happen,
It will happen.
They can write and in this way things will happen.
They Exist (4’31”, 16:9)
www.anne-marievanmeel.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 10
Britt Kootstra
Concept + Director – Britt Kootstra
Camera + Light – Jukka Rajala-Granstubb
Actors – Lina Ekblad + Carla Fri
Thanks to – Indium Film Company
Sus Productions Malakta
Out of practice, traditional and newly evolved manners are interspersed in an absurd coffee drinking ritual.
Kaffepaus (10’, 16:9)
www.brittkootstra.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 13
Daniëlle Davidson
Where does the individual and the masses begin? What is the impact of the masses on the actions and
thoughts of the individual? Does an individual, functioning in a given system, still have a choice? An urban
environment (the ant heap of the city) is interesting; How is it possible that in the city, where many ‘cells’
are alive, loneliness is experienced? How is the ‘flow’ in the city? In the streams of commuters each day
traveling by tram and metro there is a particular system to be found.
The Shadow of Silence (2’19”, 4:3)www.danielledavidson.nl
THE SOUND OF SHADOW 14
Daphne Koopman & Leonie Oortgijsen
Immortality is what mortals must achieve if they want to live up to the world that surrounds them. An
endless inventory of immortal fragments, salt and nuclear fuel, visualizing a possible echo of our future
immortal landscape.
Life is Only a Resonance of Science (3’25”, 16:9 portrait)
www.daphnekoopman.com
immortallandscape.wordpress.com
munnickay.wordpress.com
THE SOUND OF SHADOW 17
Dirk Moons
Eckhart Tolle’s self-improvement book ‘De kracht van het Nu’ was a bestseller worldwide. Tolle strikes me
as moralizing and he irritates me. But the book does contain some useful thoughts.
‘De kracht van het Nu’ (2’11”, 4:3)
www.dirkmoons.comTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 18
Eelco Wagenaar
‘Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of the shadow’s speed’ (Howard Nemerov)
How do we relate to our bodily shadow?
Does this shadow still function as our counter-image if it is light instead of dark?
Will this shadow keep its physicality if it is projected on a screen?
What happens if this shadow image isn’t always as fast as the original?
Inverted Shadow (installation)
http://eelcowagenaar.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 21
Esther Verhamme
Sound is everywhere. Even in the quietest place one could still hear the rustling sound of the inner-bodily
nervous system. In some cultures people believe that shadows represent the world of ghosts. The sound of
shadow lies in the past. Sound / Shadow / Sound explores these traces of sounds. By visualizing sounds and
giving them a shadow they become present and physical again. Can one imagine the sounds of the past
without hearing them?
Sound / Shadow / Sound (installation)
www.estherisleuk.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 22
Lucia Kooiman
The base of reality cannot be understood. Inventing a voice, a listener and oneself. Not to be concerned with
the creation or identification of truth. This short video combines photographs, video, drawings and deleted
text intuitively. It’s about the experience and usurpation of chaotic, subliminal information about nothing,
stated in an unclear voice which cannot be heard. An on-going construction of unintelligible fictions that try
to escape the manufactured cultural forms manifesting the function of narrating our biographies.
Unsound (44”, 4:3)
[email protected] SOUND OF SHADOW 25
Luciano Pinna
Direction + Production – Luciano Pinna
Performers – Martje Brandsma, Ammon Faithfull, Guido Vijverberg
Camera – Hans de Vries
Production Assistant – Rik Spann
Thanks to – Cultuurpark Westergasfabriek & Teresa van Twuijver
A research into the inner workings behind a directed performance.
Invision of I (6’, 16:9)
www.lucianopinna.comTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 26
Paul Roncken
Bomenzee (29”, 4:3)
Schoolplein (47”, 4:3)
Stier (3’24”, 4:3)
Struikgewas (35”, 4:3)
Zandmannetjes (2’04”, 4:3)
www.paulroncken.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 29
PJ Bruyniks
An open space harbours silence and calmness. A scooter is often associated with noise and annoyance. What
happens when one takes out the essential elements of each? Perhaps the open space embraces the scooter
and the scooter loses its sound.
Untitled (50”, 4:3)
Untitled (54”, 4:3)
Untitled (2”, 4:3)
www.pjbruyniks.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 30
Robbert Weide
The shape of a funnel is the transition between 1D and 2D. Moving on the periphery is 3D.
51-60 (8’56”, 16:9)
www.robbertweide.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 33
Sara Palomeque Monje
Experience is not arrayed before me as if I were God, it is lived by me from a certain point of view; I am
not the spectator, I am involved, and it is my involvement in a point of view which makes possible both the
finiteness of my perception and its opening out upon the complete world as a horizon of every perception.
(Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, 1962. Translation by Colin Smith)
The Geometry of Space Gets Transformed by Multiple Projections (various durations, 16:9, 4:3)
www.sarapalomeque.comTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 34
Teresa van Twuijver & Marijn Korff de Gidts
The End / Old is the time and many birds are snowing / In the emptiness in the distance / One becomes tired
and the voices / Are stiff as nails on even the purest of lips / Rough and low roams the rain / Where have the
days of light gone / Where to are the clouds now / Everything is mute and of stone / Alone is his
weirdness counting the elements / Bending trembling like a lashing / Giving the last sound: the song / Has
the life eternal (Lucebert)
Voice Beat II (triptych, 1’05”, 2’11”, 13”, 16:9)
www.teresavantwuijver.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 37
Tzvetana Tchakarova
In film sound usually plays a supportive role. Sound is added to images to create suspense, to accentuate
emotions or to give meaning. In this piece sound is the point of departure. ‘Whispers’ investigates the stories
of three people and their experience of listening.
Whispers (3 video’s, 2’, 4:3)
www.tzvetanatchakarova.comTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 38
Wim Jongedijk
Mazu is the name of the goddess of the sea who protects sailors and fisherman. She originally occurs in
several Asian - mainly Chinese - legends of Lin Moniang (960 AD). Her name means ‘silent girl’ for she
didn’t cry at birth. About this woman it is said she became a divinity when saving (while in trance
meditation) her father and brother during a typhoon at the age of 28.
Wim Jongedijk (concept, film) and Catharina Bruijning (concept, actress)
Mazu, The Silent Girl (5’41”, 4;3)
Zondag (3’15”, 4:3)
www.villalogica.nlTHE SOUND OF SHADOW 41
Symikony
The Sound of Shadow is both an exhibition and a gesamtkunstwerk that researches into how sound affects image
in the time-based arts by excluding it. Newly commissioned films, videos and unstable media works invite, both
individually and collectively, the camera (and eyes) to stand in for the microphone (and ears). Showing the works
in the shape of an orchestered symikony (‘visual symphony’) in three movements, using beamers and a ‘surround’
constellation of transparent screens in a large space, The Sound of Shadow underscores the significance of
silence, its prevailing absence in present-day time-based arts and the acoustic merits of silent images.
The symikony (a freshly coined word consisting of the Greek ‘Sum’ meaning harmony and ‘Ikona’ meaning
image) is carefully composed and revolves around three movements in time in which tempo, frame, camera
choreography and collision play manifest roles. The Sound of Shadow has a slow first part, an up-beat middle
and a pacing end. In the first movement emphasis is given to space, junction and collage; the second shows all the
works simultaneously, the third focuses on tonality and plays with repetition, blanks and pauses.
The Sound of Shadow 38’15” (Andante 12’45”, Adagio 12’, Andantino 13’30”)THE SOUND OF SHADOW 42
Supported byColophon
Concept, Symikony Composition, Organisation – Teresa van Twuijver
Curating – Teresa van Twuijver, Eelco Wagenaar
Production – PJ Bruyniks
Exhibition Design – Sara Palomeque Monje
Exhibition Installation - Daphne Koopman, Eelco Wagenaar
Website – Esther Verhamme
Art Design – Anne-Marie van Meel, Robbert Weide
Press – Leonie Oortgijsen, Dirk Moons, Wim Jongedijk, Britt Kootstra
Catalog – Tzvetana Tchakarova, Daniëlle Davidson, Sara Palomeque Monje
www.soundofshadow.com © 2010 Catalog € 5,– THE SOUND OF SHADOW 43
Ensemble – Anne-Marie van Meel, Britt Kootstra, Daniëlle Davidson, Daphne Koopman/Leonie Oortgijsen, Dirk Moons, Eelco Wagenaar, Esther Verhamme, Lucia Kooiman, Luciano Pinna, Paul Roncken, PJ Bruyniks, Robbert Weide, Sara Palomeque Monje, Teresa van Twuijver/Marijn Korff de Gidts, Tzvetana Tchakarova, Wim Jongedijk