Overtone

Artists Bouke Groen
Genre Performance
Edition Survival 17

in collaboration with the Chamber Choir of Wrocław University of Science and Technology

Sound Art Forum

The project received the Audience Award funded by OKRE Development

[…] The relationship between sound and architecture was also investigated by Bouke Groen, an artist interested in invisible undercurrents, overtones and hidden sentiments. These basic mechanisms determine our relationships with other people and the world around through cognitive filters, social consensus, private motivations or unspoken fundamental beliefs. From this perspective, Groen views overtones amplified by reverberations in the architectural space as a metaphor of subtle entanglement, connotations that persist just below the surface. Since each space resonates with different frequencies due to its size, shape and type of walls, Groen in cooperation with composer Renske de Boer mapped the entire hospital and created a composition for the choir, with each part dedicated to a specific area in the building. It was only when the choristers performed the composition that the true properties of the hospital interiors were revealed, reverberating with music written specifically for them. Thus architecture was translated into the wordless sound of human voice, which described concrete spaces in a subtle and sensual manner. […]

Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz: Concealed. In: Art Reviev SURVIVAL 17. Catalogue, Wrocław 2019, p. 64-65.

 

photo: Małgorzata Kujda