CAN THE SAND SING?

SOUNDS, SANDS, SONGS AND SHADOWS IMPROVISED IN SPACE IN REAL-TIME.

 

April 2015

 

A real-time improvised performance, created at KNSM301 pop-up gallery building, a former skateboard store at KNSM island in the Eastern Docklands of Amsterdam. The performance was inspired by the architecture of the building and the music created by its structure and forms.

 

 

I left the office and cycled to KNSM301 gallery. I would meet with the building for the first time. I arrived late, so everyone was gone. I opened the door. 

"Hi there, building", I said, "it's me, Electra". No answer. Thick silence.

 

I walked down the stairs. Low ceilings and twilight. 

A subtle sound of water dripping started coming to my ears...Like the beginning of a spring rain, or like drops falling from stalactites in a cave.. I could hear it  clearly, but I couldn't see anything..The sound continued and became stronger. It sounded more like a tropical rain now, or like an overflowing river running through rocks and tree trunks. "Hello?!.. Is there a river living here?", I asked. No answer. Only rain.

 

I went up the stairs. White walls, white ceilings, but no floor.  

I started floating till I arrived in the middle of the room. Somebody had left a record made of sand spinning there. I don't know if I was looking at it for five minutes or five hours, but then suddenly it started singing...the sand started singing! It was the song of the dunes. Stephane had told me, a long time ago, that the dunes can really sing and, now, here I am, in KNSM301 building, listening to the sand singing from a spinning sand LP, while I was floating on the first floor...

 

I left the building and called Ben. "Hey, I have so many stories to tell you...! Are you there?..."

 

 

Electra Kikk together with percussionist Ben Brown explored the space, revealing the sounds and moves of every corner. Ben drummed on floors, ceilings, columns and stairs, while Electra was stepping on lakes, waterfalls, sands and caves. In the meanwhile, Susheela Sankaram was filling the space with real-time shadow ripples.

 

Ben Brown: percussion, objects, sounds

Electra Kikk: dance, sounds

Susheela Sankaram: light & shadow design

 

 

* Special thanks to Panayiota Constanti for designing and making the dress for the performance.