Seven Spaces
2002
soundscape/ installation
60min.
Seven Spaces is an hour long soundscape based on ambient recordings made in Cape Town, July 2002 for the Upstream festival in Holland, an event in which artists from various countries along the old Dutch trading route contributed art works reflecting on the VOC from a contemporary perspective. Cape Town is city which has its origins in the trading station originally established by the VOC in 1652 and today this sprawling city is characterised by its widely differing residential and commercial areas/regions many of which still maintain the stamp of the political policies that originally shaped them. The areas still have their own characteristics in terms of population group, characteristic religion, financial status, geographical location, amenities, quality/character of housing etc. Besides the different languages spoken each of these characteristics of course also strongly shapes the aural character of the environment and it is an aural portrait of the present day Cape Town in all its (multicultural) facets that this piece attempts to present.
Six regions were each assigned a day of the week and recordings made over the full 24 hour cycle of each day were edited into six hour long CDs. These CDs were then played from seven different locations around a plein in the town of Hoorn, North Holland, where the sounds of Cape Town mixed with the everyday sounds of this small Dutch town, once an important centre in the activities of the VoC.
2002
soundscape/ installation
60min.
Seven Spaces is an hour long soundscape based on ambient recordings made in Cape Town, July 2002 for the Upstream festival in Holland, an event in which artists from various countries along the old Dutch trading route contributed art works reflecting on the VOC from a contemporary perspective. Cape Town is city which has its origins in the trading station originally established by the VOC in 1652 and today this sprawling city is characterised by its widely differing residential and commercial areas/regions many of which still maintain the stamp of the political policies that originally shaped them. The areas still have their own characteristics in terms of population group, characteristic religion, financial status, geographical location, amenities, quality/character of housing etc. Besides the different languages spoken each of these characteristics of course also strongly shapes the aural character of the environment and it is an aural portrait of the present day Cape Town in all its (multicultural) facets that this piece attempts to present.
Six regions were each assigned a day of the week and recordings made over the full 24 hour cycle of each day were edited into six hour long CDs. These CDs were then played from seven different locations around a plein in the town of Hoorn, North Holland, where the sounds of Cape Town mixed with the everyday sounds of this small Dutch town, once an important centre in the activities of the VoC.