On the Process of becoming Silent and Listening

Video & sound work presented at the Exhibition “Zindering” Festival van Vlaanderen, Mechelen 2021 curated by Jelle Dierickx, and at Festival Hear Here, Museum M Leuven, curated by Gilles Helsen 2022.

“What is sound? My thoughts wander; I become quieter and more conscious of my surroun­dings. I listen to the sounds around me: the rustling of paper, the gentle hum of the computer, an aeroplane and voices in the distance. Silence. This process of becoming silent and listening deeply is the starting point for every project, every case study and works on this theme. It seems that I have to approach the first question through another one: What is silence?”

 

This fragment from Esther Venrooy’s essay On the Process of Becoming Silent and Listening fits perfectly into the context of Zindering. She has developed it further for the festival, turning it into an essay in film. Her work ranges from purely electronic composed music to improvised combina­tions of electro­nics with traditi­onal instru­ments such as the piano, guqin, pipa and satsuma-biwa.