In the audio-visual performance ‘Ground’ by Dewi de Vree and Jeroen Uyttendaele the acoustic is rendered tactile. Fascinated by ways of rematerialising an increasingly dematerialised and idealised world, their work can be seen as an attempt to approach electronic music in a more intuitive, engaging manner. Using graphite, a material that conducts electricity and is used in everyday variable resistors, they compose drawings that figure as the interface that controls the volume, pitch and amplitude of the piece. As the lines drawn stretch, intersect or encounter foreign conductive elements – such as the hand – the sound is either modulated or becomes warped. The result is a performance that blends senses together or juxtaposes them, as it creates tension between the unpredictable, aleatoric qualities of the graphite and the order of lines that the performers impose upon it, which form the rudimentary ‘score’ of the piece. This book presents a collection of 51 of these graphite drawings and is accompanied by a video recording of ‘Ground’ performed live by the artists at Studio Loos in The Hague. Published by MER. Paper Kunsthalle (Ghent).
60 + DVD pages, 29 x 20 cm, softcover, MER. Paper Kunsthalle (Ghent).