Aural Record

Ceramics Artifacts and Sound in a Performance & Installation

Aural Record was born as a joint invitation from Gaudeamus Festival (Utrecht) and the European Ceramic Workcentre (Oisterwijk) to explore and develop a piece around ceramics as a process and material.

During a two month long residency, with the support of the staff and thanks to the fantastic infrastructure of the centre, we were able to create an installation that could be sonically activated as percussion, through feedback, or through electromagnetism.

The three rocking platforms support ceramic rings that are decorated with gold luster; but far from being just a decoration, the gold is also a path for electricity to flow. Each piece emits a magnetic field that propagates a pre-composed sound source. The composite of three of these rocking platforms is a source for interaction of the performers, and creates different rhythmic and harmonic interactions.

Archaeological sites were an initial inspirational idea for the work: how can we give voices to these silent artifacts of the past? Unlike sound, ceramics’ durability has led it to become an archetypical ingredient of our collective image of past worlds. Clay and sound both start out as ephemeral media, but through firing the clay becomes a durable object, frozen in time, and well preserved. The sound of these objects, however, always evaporates. Through the research and performance with these objects, a meeting point is sought between these two different worlds. 

Aural Record was exhibited at Movement Exposed Gallery Space in Utrecht (NL) from September 9th to October 1st, 2022.

Past Exhibitions and Performances:

- Sep. 2022, Movement Gallery / Gaudeamus Festival , Utrecht (NL)
- Apr. 2023, Klaipėda Cultural Communication Center, Klaipėda (LT)
- Jul. 2023, Garelly Haus, Experimance Festival, Saarbrücken (DE)
- Jul. 2023, Lutherkirche, Centrecourt Festival, Cologne (DE)
- Aug. 2023, Palais Lichtenstein, Begehungen Festival, Lichtenstein (DE)
- Mar. 2024, Cruce Contemporaneo, IN-SONORA 13, Madrid (ES)