(c) Archive Kathleen Bomani
Employing techniques learned during years of training, Janneke van der Putten uses her voice as an instrument in order to explore different environments physically, sonically and intuitively. Her work moves away from the usual modern parameters of amplification and synthesis, focusing instead on the space’s and body’s resonance in the here and now.
When Echo was changed into a stone her calls reverberated in honour of her name, and the trees shivered and responded with their voices. And how do we relate to these returns? The voice as an expression that stands at the base of what defines us as humans, and drags us back to our intuitive animal-like being. Returning to that embedded knowledge is like walking into a relentlessly unfolding horizon. Listening is a way to immerse in one’s environment. But as much as one inhales and exhales – inspiring and extending – the walls are with us.
They do vibrate too. It was not until I performed in the underground vaults of the Reina Sofía Museum, a former hospital, that I could imagine what the people described in Foucault’s Histoire de la folie were pulled into. It was not one’s inner voices and secret tuning forks that hit the cranium – instead those cellars spoke for me, shadowed all that came out of my mouth. Turning around myself in expanding circles, it wasn’t possible to point a finger to the sound-source.
Janneke van der Putten
Engaging with specific sites and local contexts, and through her personal experiences, Janneke van der Putten investigates (human) responses to her surroundings, and their relation to natural phenomena and transitions, such as the sunrise. Janneke van der Putten’s practice involves experiences of listening, performances, sound, and video, documentations in image, text, and textile, workshops, music projects, and creating platforms for cultural exchange.
On October 18, 21.15 pm, Janneke van der Putten performs at Kunstraum 34 and on October 24, 7 pm, at Hospitalkirche within the opening of the exhibition Leibhaft.
Admission is free.
Performance at Kunstraum 34, Filderstraße 34, 70180 Stuttgart:
On October 18, 2019, 21.15 pm
Performance at Hospitalkirche Stuttgart, Hospitalplatz/Eingang Büchsenstraße 33, 70174 Stuttgart:
On October 24, 2019, 7 pm
participated in