Soeria van den Wijngaard

Commissioned work.

"earlier this year she completed her bachelor's in art science at the royal academy of visual arts with an impressive audio installation. soeria van den wijngaard is a multi-media sound artist and her work starts from listening and field recording. for our sixteenth broadcast she makes live at the shore, as the sun sets, a hybrid of her field recording library and music that has influenced her. Unfortunately, it is not possible to come by, so listen online from 4:00 pm on ooradio.nl/live."

Many of my audio pieces are designed to be listened to in the dark. With closed eyes, the 'inner eye' will automatically form images of the story that I tell on the basis of sound recordings from all over the world. With this project I was looking for a different way of listening that involves the body more in the process. A transducer does not have a membrane and by means of pressure on this part of a speaker, the sound passes through different materials, in this case through my ceramic bowl. This bowl is suspended from parachute rope, making the 10 kilo object create the illusion of weighing only 1.5 kilos. The listener was invited to listen to my sound piece from the bowl. The vibrations of the bass thus penetrated into the body of the listener.

Photo by Naomi Moonlion

Photo by Alex Heuvink. Close up from one of the ceramic spheres, that function as a percussive instrument (by shaking, pushing the sphere it sounds because of the little ceramic piece inside the sphere bouncing against the inside)

Witness What Remains on show at Onomatopee. Photo by Wibke.

A collective listening experience. Immersive sound installation, 100kg of perlite - 300 ceramics - 10 min sound composition Artist’s note: This installation is interactive and engages with touch. In order to experience a new way of listening, ten minutes of your time and your full attention are required. Taking off shoes is strongly recommended. You are welcome to touch anything in the space, including the spheres. Please respect each other’s experience by refraining from talking. During the summer of 2018 the weather in Sparta, Greece, was ferocious. The hot air rising from the soil and slamming against the mountains caused the sky to break open multiple times a day. Loud thunderstorms followed by almost hot rain would interrupt meals and conversations. After a while, our rhythm and senses adjusted. Slowly, we became attuned to the sensory details predicting the arrival of rainstorms, such as the cicadas changing pitch. However, we misread our elderly neighbour’s hostile mood. We thought it was because she had lost her chimney during one of the storms and water had come in. In reality, she was deeply lonely. The installation offers a space in which one can experience authentic listening through interaction with the spheres and storytelling. It invites the practice of refraining from acting or listening on automatic pilot. Returning to and cultivating the inner witness helps us to navigate not only the interpersonal consequences of injustice, inertia and inauthenticity but also address colonization of mind and body. Privilege comes with responsibilities to work on one’s self. The conscious mending of incongruences between one’s inner and outer self continues through witnessing. [text continues under next photo]

To witness. In any experience, sensory, emotional or conceptual data is processed. As you read this text, you are both experiencing and witnessing. Instantaneous objective observations of an experience come from what I call ‘the witness’. It is a form of awareness within you that is always present, easily forgotten, and that doesn’t judge or act but simply receives and observes. It is content. However, if the witness would solely be in charge, nothing would be done. We need the ego in order to survive. This is the intrapersonal voice that speaks the loudest and consists of our personalities and belief systems. Most often, the ego is the place we experience from. Ideally, the witness and the experiencer collaborate in order to progress through playful contemplation. The ego. By default, the ego is afraid of change. It uses emotion and defense mechanisms to ‘protect’. In this ego-controlled defensive state, we cannot listen. Hearing is different from listening, as listening requires our discernment and attention. Active witnessing needs a calm nervous system to receive. This reception goes beyond what one sees or hears, it engages the whole body and mind. [text continues under photo 3]

Prioritizing Play. How we listen reveals a lot about our inner well-being and the feeling of safety in our bodies, as negative dialogue distracts and overpowers external stimuli. If we have little access to our own body, mutual understanding becomes difficult. It isolates us. Emotion is energy in motion. It is meant to move through you. “Positive” emotions are often expressed in play. This is because the body relaxes through play. The vagus nerve is stimulated and the parasympathetic nervous system activates. We start 'resting and digesting’. What occurs is the combination of active listening with taking action: using the body in ways that feel good to us. Both perceived negative and positive emotions are possible to be experienced within the installation. Resistance such as boredom, confusion and/or irritability are part of the process of allowing. The ego might be scared. The importance of allowing is that a radical acceptance of yourself generates energy to take action beyond its fear. photo taken on film by Soeria

Written by Maarten Keus: "Performance about love, new love, (...) taking risks and release.(...) Confronting the audience with loud and almost unbearable bangs, when the two cast iron bells hit each other and wrap around each other, then fly off to once again meet." “Just like the scars that become visible in summer, simply because they don’t tan, the dents in the bell of one’s heart are inevitably revealed when played.“ - Soeria van den Wijngaard Performed at the Grey Space in The Middle in December 2019.

Two screenshots from the short film, Mama, that I shot on my Iphone in 2017, after spending a week with my mother after she left the house where her 23-year marriage ended. She reflects on her sexuality, online dating and I reflect on the images of love that I encounter in my own life. Is a relationship 'successful' if it is forever? shown at Studio Loos in collaboration with Azimuth
April 20, 2018, on 8 speakers.

In collaboration with Frazer Merrick (UK), this interactive installation came to be shown during the concert night of Audiotalia and our residency there in 2017. The audience was invited to interact with the tree in a completely new way. Because of the microphones hidden and composition placed at different parts of the walnut tree, it could be played with and respond to the player. It was enjoyed by all ages.