Exhibition 9 – 26 September 2021
Quartair presents A State of Amplitude, an exhibition of sonic sculptures, instruments and sound transmitting vessels. This assemblage of actively sounding objects will remain open for compositional coincidences, new spatial conditions and modes of relation. The exhibition was curated by Mike Rijnierse and opened on September 9th, alongside Rewire Festival, running until Sunday, September 26th.
Participating artists: Natalia Domínguez Rangel (CO/NL/AT), Hans van Koolwijk (NL), Andreas Trobollowitsch (AT), Andre Bartetzki (DE), Wen Chin Fu (TW/NL), Mike Rijnierse & Rob Bothof (NL) and Louis Braddock Clarke (UK/NL).
A State of Amplitude looks at the potential of using sound as material to create instruments or sculptures. In these sonic architectures, where sound functions as a method of continuous construction and destruction, an endlessly unfolding dimension emerges of composed reality. By entering this space of vibrations, an identification occurs between listener and elemental matter, between inside and outside, between hallucination and realism.
Opening Thursday, 9 September
doors open at 16:00
with performances by Hans van Koolwijk and Andreas Trobollowitsch
During Rewire weekend exhibition open from 13:00 to 20:00
with performances by Hans van Koolwijk and Andreas Trobollowitsch
After Rewire weekend, the exhibition runs until 26 September
Thursday to Sunday, from 13:00 to 17:00 with more performances
Hoogtij #66 – Art Tour – Friday, 24 Sep from 19:00 to 23:00
on-going installations and performances by Hans van Koolwijk
Last weekend: 25-26 September
Performances by Hans van Koolwijk at 15:00
Closing performance by Wen Chin Fu / Mei Yi Lee Sunday 26th at 16:00
Bambuso (1996 – ongoing) – Hans van Koolwijk
Bambuso is an unpolished sound sculpture that is used as a musical instrument, whereby the visual setting reflects the aural experience. The central work of Hans van Koolwijk, Bambuso originated from the idea of a single performer operating a number of flutes simultaneously. For the last 30 years, van Koolwijk has been developing and constantly adding to this extensive palette of sounds.
Telluric Variation (2021) – Louis Braddock Clarke
The shifting scapes of material in the ground’s sub-surface bend, tweak, and distort magneto
telluric currents. Vertical strata of rocks, soils, and metals slump over time due to climatic
variation, disturbing the porous materials below. As the minerals fluctuate, telluric currents also shift in an ever-developing sonic dialogue. The magnetic data stored and amplified by the ground properties of the site are decoded by a geo-tool. The Earth becomes a substrate for listening, in which the underground filters and displays electro currents. The work borrows from scientific measuring devices which have been re-purposed for the act of listening rather than data collection. The installation offers a live dig into the electrical depths of The Hague.
Overlap (2020) – Natalia Domínguez Rangel
Overlap is a sound sculpture that listens to its acoustic environment and encapsulates in the shape of an electro-acoustic composition. In A State of Amplitude the acoustic ecology of Quartair became the focus for a collaborative work of augmented layering of the ambient and bleeding of present with past moments in time.
Pot-Shot / Ton-Techniek (2012) – Andre Bartetzki
Pot-Shot/Ton-Techniek belongs to a series of installations using plant pots as percussive instruments. Triggered by push solenoids, the instruments perform chaotic, evolving, repetitive patterns, single pulses or bursts. As the sound of the pots is short and dry, one’s perception expands to the spatial and temporal extent of the pulses and patterns and less to melodic, spectral or harmonic qualities produced by the plant pots. Each clink of the pots becomes a pure marker in space and time.
Sino (2021) – Mike Rijnierse & Rob Bothof
Sino is a bronze bell standing upside down with its mouth facing the sky. Struck by an exciter installed in its interior, overtones are generated, turning the bell into a singing bowl. Often used in Eastern rituals, singing bowls are also known as ‘standing bells’ or ‘resting bells’. In Sino, the ‘resting bell’ becomes an instrument for resonance and reflection, rendering the sound not as an alarm signal, but as a call for contemplation.
Tang – Sounding Sugar Playground (2021) – Wen Chin Fu
Matter has its own hidden secret. By making, observing and listening to it we can find the entrance into this secret. Tang is a percussion instrument made of crystallized sugar, exploring the acoustic potential of this everyday ingredient. The work originated in an artistic residency at a former sugar refinery in Taiwan, 2015, where Wen Chin Fu was working together with artist Mariska de Groot. For A State of Amplitude, the artist has prepared the sugar instrument into a physical installation. This iteration of Tang, will provide different ways of playing, listening and eating (the sound of) sugar.
Ventorgano (2014) – Andreas Trobollowitsch
Ventorgano is an electroacoustic synthesizer that allows its player precise control. It consists of five resonating bodies shaped like square columns, over which one guitar string each is strung and made to vibrate by prepared fans. Per string, there are two fans that turn at differing speeds. As these speeds shift, micro-rhythmical elements are generated. The speed of each fan can be adjusted progressively, which also changes the overtone spectrum.
A State of Amplitude is proudly presented within Rewire Festival 2021, the offline edition.
This exhibition is supported by Royal Eijsbouts, The City of The Hague, Stroom Den Haag, the Mondriaan Fund and the Austrian Embassy in The Hague.
