Whispers

Soundworks
| soundwork
Whispers, with it's 5 ceramic trumpets designed by visual artist Pierluigi Pompeï, is part of the "Frozen Music", an exhibition where the design of space and sound is explored with interactive installations, art, film and music, architectural drawings and models.

Bureau Europa (Maastricht NL): "Music and architecture speak the same language of rhythm, contrast, proportion, dynamics and harmony. The composer and the master builder have inspired each other for centuries. From mimicking the sounds of nature to fascination with the human voice, even the modern electrical environment of the 21st century is a source of inspiration for modern sound artists. Music also has its own architecture: from the design of instruments to the aesthetics of the notation itself. Man is a tuning fork that intuitively senses harmony - in music, but also in architecture."

this sound art represents exciting experiences and adventure.

– Gonzo Circus

Whispers is an installation with five more than man-sized ceramic trumpets, arranged in various directions. They transmit words, fragments of sentences, laughter, alternated with noise and a strange crackles and sputters. Each trumpet has its own repertory of expressions. And each has its own characteristic sound, due to their difference in length.

Whispers has been on show all over the world, with performances from South-Korea to Shanghai reaching more than 3 million people in Asia alone.

The speaking trumpets are not alone in space, their voices overlap, in their echo they receive resistance from their environment. Carefully composed continuously changing sounds from speakers surrounding them, absorb the voices like a riverbed. Sometimes distinctly musically, sometimes as a distorted reflection of the voices. While the voices drag on steadily and impassively, the surrounding sounds turn into a flood, rushing towards a sudden climax. In one wave it erases the blackboard, to make way for the talking, murmuring and sputtering to start all over again.

Walking around in this installation by composers Rob van Rijswijk and Jeroen Strijbos and artist Pierluigi Pompei evokes an ambiguous feeling. It encloses you completely, as if diving in a sound pool with streams that pull your hearing into different directions. On the other hand, you remain an outsider in the events surrounding you. It’s a world in which you’re familiar with most of the components, still you’re never able to merge in completely. It’s a world that embraces and excludes you at the same time. This world grows a desire that can never be fulfilled, and which will thus only get stronger.

Whispers is a co-production with festival November Music and EKWC. Special thanks to Roland Speklé.



S&VR are commissioned to present work at festivals,
in concert halls and museums and in the landscape all over the world.


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