Certain Alterations are of course essential

The field of sound is often my point of departure when I create an audiovisual installation, reflecting on ‘what is sound?’ A sound can be a fragment of a remembered past, addressing our deepest auditory memory and taking us to a particular place in time. As Stockhausen pointed it out, ‘whenever we hear sounds we are changed. We are no longer the same after having heard certain sounds.’ To me, sensitive experience and poetic memory are always the starting point when creating a work. In Certain Alterations are of Course Essential visitors can move through the installation and the space, choosing different points from which to look and listen. In this work, the horizontality of the installation is central to the experience. Our eyes are drawn to it. What we see is a ‘table sculpture’ or installation, where all technology is visible, and nothing is hidden. As a composer, I spent most of my time sitting at a desk, writing music, making drawings and composing sounds on a computer. A table, and more specifically an empty table represents an inner process. The upper surface of the table is designed for supporting objects, working or eating, but for me it is a place for drawing, thinking and dreaming. This physical, horizontal aspect of surface is what I wanted to translate to an installation.

The sound work evolves over time, with moments of ‘low energy’ and moments of ‘high energy’. The distribution of the sounds over the entire installation allows the visitors to experience the installation in multiple different ways. The idea is to create an intimate, personal, physical sonic experience, based on the horizontal aspect of surface.