MENS-WATER-STEEN (men-water-stone) is a durational composition, video-installation and silent space in one.
The installation consists of six projections and one screen which all have their own sound source. I am the only one performing. This makes the installation personal but also a representation of humanity.
The intro starts in a cave, our minds, and from there the human in the melody-line questions its relation to earth.
The melody line, which takes forty-five minutes, begins with the longing to be more like a bird. I then walk away and,
in a different frame, walk up a dune. I surrender to gravity and walk up again and again. I miscommunicate,
I push heavy burdens before I start to surrender to the landscape and end up completely immersed in it.
The natural elements in the surrounding video’s have a different tempo than humanity. Water runs fast and seems
fluid but has the power to change rock. The sun moves very slow in the screen, while actually the earth moves
really fast around it. The stone doesn’t change, only the shadows move. The light changes during the day make
you aware the earth is turning. Just like the video of the sun on the left wall. Because of the different lengths of these cycles, the melody line and the video’s of the natural phenomena constantly relate in different ways.
Most people stayed in for about an hour and started to place themselves in front of the waterfall, the sun and the stone as well.
This video contains images from the work in the chapel of the conservatory in Utrecht
During opening hours I performed. I stood in front of the sun, the waterfall and the stone, immersing myself in the landscapes like I do in the videos of the melody-line.
The waterfall alters between being silent and sounding. The waves are different in timing
and dynamic. It pays no attention to when the human is singing, it growls when it wants
to and completely takes over the space. Each wave was my cue to go up to the organ and
play one or several tones. I used the registers of the organ to create pulsating sounds
which made the space vibrate.
