VENROOIJ, Esther
Sounding Things Out

Sound is ephemeral. It does not belong to anyone. It cannot be captured in words. Writing on sound art usually focuses on the same familiar figures, but this treatment will broaden  the field to explore artistic practitioners like the godfather of movie sound, Walter Murch, the king of the jungle Chris Watson, naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, pioneer wildlife recordist Ludwig Karl Koch, American pioneer composer and master teacher James Fulkerson, uncompromising composer Eliane Radigue, visionary sound sculptor Edgard Varèse, offbeat composer Luc Ferrari, true maverick Maryanne Amacher, and sonic terrorist MSBR aka Koji Tano and others.

Sounding Things Out explains what it is like to work as a composer with sound and installation art. Drawing on anecdotal and personal insight as well, Esther Venrooij explores the spaces between sounds, and follows the subject through the cracks where it isn’t supposed to go, thereby making her sound art theory accessible to anyone with an interest in music and sound. Following sound as a subject matter through the cracks where it isn’t supposed to go, and by exploring the spaces between sounds, Esther Venrooy breaks away from traditional writing about sound. She explores this subject in balancing of her experienced practice as composer working with sound and installation art, with critical reflection. [publisher's note]

Published by Onomatopee, 2023
Exhibition Catalogues / Performance