sound installations

Hans Beckers (°1986) studied Multimedia Arts at the School of Arts (KASK) in Ghent. His work is mainly focused on sound, installations, music and performances, but he also makes drawings, etchings and compositions for theatre, video and performances. In his work he tries to find a balance between music and visual arts. Using self-made instruments, he shows how objects that are not generally considered fit to play music on can in fact become musical instruments. His performances are a combination of composition and improvisation, where he plays a whole range of materials rhythmically, melodically and harmonically.

Sonitum Horarium is a sound installation whereby the instruments are all kinds of desert sand from different continents. This installation shows the fascinating sound of sand: desert sand from different continents flows through hourglasses that were created especially for this installation. They all have their own specific noise and sound that is determined by the texture of the sand and the material that captures the sand. The installation consists of two types of instruments: the electronically powered sound system and ‘the sand organ’ that is manually played. The electronically powered sound system is the instrument generating rhythm and noise, while the sand organ represents the melodic and harmonic instrument. The sand flowing through the installation accomplishes a whole cycle: starting from the hourglass it goes along different collection systems to a bowl on the ground, from which the sand is picked up again by a mechanical system with chains and spoons and is transported right back to the hourglass.

Floris Vanhoof (°1982, lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium) is interested in the hybrid forms of music, visual art, and film. His first projections -experimental films on 16 millimeter- evolved towards purely visual experiences which questioned our viewing patterns. Inspired by structural film and early electronic music, he builds installations, creates expanded cinema performances, and releases his music. Vanhoof makes his own instruments to explore the border between image, light, and sound. As media-archaeologist, he confronts the digitally-spoiled audience with flickering 16mm films and 35mm slide installations - formats doomed to disappear. He often chooses analog technology because of the greater transparency of the workflow, and because of its rich dynamic range. Cut loose from all nostalgia, he experiments with what used to be considered "hightech." Vanhoof searches for new ideas with old media. He translates sound to image and vice-versa by connecting different incompatible media. He is especially curious about the effects his work elicits in the viewer:

How does our perception operate? Which new perspectives appear?

Pierre Bastien’s is a french musician born 1953 who builds his own machineries, at the cross between music and visual art, that blends live trumpet sounds with screen projections of on-site, mechanical sound sculptures in a very poetic way. His work is described as “a timeless sounding orchestra, both futuristic and slightly dada, conjuring ancient traditions in its surprisingly sensuous music.”

Bastien has been called a “mad musical scientist with a celebrity following” by The Guardian. Collaborating in the past with filmmaker Pierrick Sorin, fashion designer Issey Miyake, singer and composer Robert Wyatt and Aphex Twin (who released three of his albums on his label Rephlex) to name a few, he is one of the most influential experimental musicians working in the field. In 1986 he formed his own self made one man orchestra, Mecanium and made over 20 records over the years.