Sophie Vanhomwegen

Birth is a video work based on filmed footage from a hand made feather cloak by Rebecca Lenaerts. The texture and movement of the feathers melt together with the visceral handcrafted modular sound of AtomTM and the poetic imagery of Sophie Vanhomwegen. The viewer is transported on the friction between the digital and nature, between observation and imagination, between the tactile and the visceral. 

Concept and performance by Rebecca Lenaerts 

Sound by AtomTM, experts from 'Texturen'

Video filming and editing by Sophie Vanhomwegen

Rebecca Lenaerts: From the creation of the feather blanket a performance has arisen entitled Still a bird. I asked Sophie Vanhomwegen if she would be interested in filming the performance. She proposed spontaneously to use a 360° camera, in order to experiment with the bird perspective. The footage was surprisingly beautiful and poetic. So we decided to make a video with it. Then I asked AtomTM if he could imagine sound on the images. He proposed "texturen VI".  

AtomTM: “texturen” was born out of my innate interest in sound as the fundamental component of music. It is as much an investigation in physics as it is in music itself. “texturen” is a series of recordings which will comprise of 9 albums. The recordings started in 2016 and currently 7 albums exist. "texturen" is an ongoing exploration of sonic surfaces. It deals with the sonic properties themselves, such as frequencies, resolution, volume, etc. Instead of the properties of traditional narratives in terms of “content” like harmonies, melodies, words, and so on.

The texture of the sound corresponds with the texture of the feathers. One belongs to the world of birds and nature, the other is created by a modular system and digital. 

AtomTM: I believe that nature is digital, in the sense that it is based upon algorithmic structures on one hand, and the fact that nature’s fabric is finite, grained. In a way, nature seems to be a giant touring machine, or at least, i have no reason to believe this could be otherwise. A feather is but a fractal phenomenon on the algorithmic surface of said a machine. So in my opinion, there is no difference between “nature” and “digital” as nature may be an iteration of the digital. From my perspective reality has its origin in one or more algorithms, or in logic/logos itself. Every single element of reality can be understood as algorithmic in nature, as part of an ongoing process that is bigger than us.

Rebecca Lenaerts: The practice of Japanese Butoh Dance has become a meager inspiration for my work. In Butoh the human body is not considered as individual but as a temporary presence within a much bigger unity, connected with all organisms (also non-human and more-then-human) and with the history of this planet and even beyond. It starts from an understanding of the world from within and as being part of it, not as reflecting on the world from the outside. There is an interdependent mutuality, the mesh, which the human constantly moves with and be moved by. I am very much drawn to frictions; that place where two so called opposites come together and create tension. It is a zero point. A void. Moving in this in-between-space and being moved by it, is my dance. In Japan they use the word BA to name the interval between space, time and space-time. But the word not only covers the gaps, holes and intervals but also the connections and inter-relationships between. 

Sophie Vanhomwegen: I enjoy the playful act of rearranging and assembling visual or audiovisual bits that I find or come across in my my environment. It’s in the interaction with Rebecca and Uwe and during the process of this collaboration that we came across new concepts and ideas. The challenge to bring together different artistic universes generated a new audiovisual piece. I like to trick minds by challenging perception. To do that, I use digital tools which are at my disposal. Using digital media triggers me to go back and forth in the exploration of the surreal. It opens up more possibilities to question the way our mind works, over and over. 

It is an endless play.

BIRTH is a video that supposed to be watched in a darkened space and in endless loop. 

Rebecca Lenaerts: Once we agreed on the title of the video, the idea to present BIRTH as a loop was almost obvious. The endless cycle of life and dead. But the exact repetition of the video creates a mechanical process. The same over and over again presents the earth as machine. And yet, with every looped sequence new details in the eye of the viewer come in for front, new associations pop up, new perspectives arise. The mechanical becomes meditative.