The Listening Scenographer

There is so much sound, so much to listen to, but where to start? As a scenographer with a background in music I create space to listen to what is already there. In my work I include and invite space for unexpected events by paying attention to the now and using improvisation. As an improvising musician and performer I am always listening how sound resonates in space and reacting on that with sound or movement and letting this interplay being inuenced by what happens in the moment, on the spot. As a scenographer I want to create space for experiencing this. I discovered how to move and guide me and the other and how to be moved and guided, by the unexpected.

Listening on the spot
On this site, the Plompetorenbrug in Utrecht, there is something interesting going on. When you come from the Voorstraat to this bridge, suddenly the sound density has shifted. It’s seemingly quiet, but actually there is space emerged for the sounds to resonate. When you listen here for a while, a lot is actually happening. It seems that these happenings play a composition together. “Happenstance” is something that happened because of certain circumstances, although it was not planned by anyone. Without a reason, while it seems to. To conduct the listener to listen to what is already there, I made listening spots. By framing the way of listening and composing interventions, I create space to let happenstance play with the listeners imagination and expectations.