Audio installation view at Ecotones - Bodies in Tension at Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam (NL)

The Chase is an audio installation and artist publication, realised in collaboration with composer Drake Stoughton and with the assistance of ecologist Kees van Oers (KNAW)

Thanks to Dr. Kees van Oers (KNAW), Montei Di Matteo, Miriam van Rijsingen,  Paula Albuquerque, Alicja Melzacka and Mariana Lanari

The second chapter is currently being produced at the terrils (former coal excavation dumps) of Winterslag and Waterschei in Genk (BE). In collaboration with Jester Genk (formerly CIAP/FLACC) and local hobby-ornithologist Johan Schoonaert

︎ Listen on soundcloud

(2020, ongoing) In collaboration with composer Drake Stoughton. Audio installation 00.07.53 loop, artist publication, 24 x 17 cm

The Chase evolves around the memories of some of the older villagers of Keyenberg (DE), a village which will soon be excavated due to lignite industry, which have been observing birds since their childhood years. The former inhabitants report the loss of a large variety of birds orchestrating in their gardens. This phenomenon came to an abrupt end after their forced resettlement to ‘Neu-Keyenberg’, one of the newly built copy-villages replacing the original settlements. Due to the concrete nature of the new villages and the excavation of the nearby Hambacher forest, the animals are now driven out of this landscape.

By recording birdsongs during dawn within the Hambacher Forst, the forest near to the old Keyenberg, and by examining them together with ecologist Kees van Oers (KNAW), the work highlights the unique composition of birds present within the disappearing landscape. In collaboration with composer Drake Stoughton, a score was made, in which’s process the audio was matched with the right notes. The composer’s inability of keeping track with the birds represents the problem of archiving the natural, resulting in an auditive play (or chase) between the archived and the archiver. The publication displays the score or ‘catch’ resulting from this chase, representing an additional step of archiving; therefore further transforming the natural phenomenon in the process.