Listen To Me

Listen To Me - stills and installation pics

Listen To Me  is an ongoing project where I'm researching the relationship between the listener and the sound he or she listens to. We all listen differently, and the sounds we hear are coloured by our own history and identity. Listen To Me  wants to explore the personality of listening. It's a project inspired by the paintings of Nicolaes Maes, a 17th century Dutch master. In his 'eavesdropper paintings' he shows a domestic setting, where somebody is eavesdropping on the other members of the household, sometimes looking conspiraciously at the spectator.

Listen To Me  approaches the act of listening sideways, by using video. The installation focuses on the listener and zooms in on the minute and subtle facial expressions of people who are listening. This is the only information the spectator has to imagine the sounds being heard – on every screen, a person is absorbed in listening to sounds the spectator cannot hear. The sounds remain only in the faces and minds of the listeners - on the screen and in front of it.


            Listen To Me is a multiscreen installation. The video underneath shows a showreel with some excerpts from the shots used in the installation

Listen To Me is a part of my research trajectory 61, which etches itself on an phenomenological approach to sound, identity, listening and hearing - and the relations between these aspects. During this trajectory I want to develop new forms artistic forms that will explore the question of how we give meaning to what we hear, or how we listen.

The video's were shot by Sam Vanoverschelde and Stijn Demeulenaere. Video consulting and post-production by Sam Vanoverschelde. Additional post-production by Christopy Clarey.  Listen To Me  is an ongoing project supported by Kunstenwerkplaats. Along the way the project also recieved support from Visual Kitchen, Overtoon, Cimatics and The Flemish Community Commission of the Brussels Capital Region.

A special thanks goes out to all the people who kindly contributed their listening to the video shoots. You’re great.