Art und Weise: Tender Noise (Echoes)

We were once surrounded by the vastness of an ocean for 15 days, without seeing land. Somewhere there, the short note ‘intimate expanse’ was written. It was Theresa who made the note and we talked about it later. A contradiction? So many starting points over so many years. Lines, rays, layers, material and experience. And always a similar movement: Close listening and a precise observation as the first steps towards an approach. As if scanning the surfaces enables the confidences necessary to enter the hidden layers of the visible, the audible and the situations. Then there is the certainty that something needs to be captured in order to enter into a binding relationship. That is what interests us. Because only then, in engaging relationships, do we find a position, only then can new starting points arise, only then do the entanglements continue. We follow traces, leave new ones and blur them. We have learnt from the sea, we follow the desire to look at things anew again and again. Certainties are met with mistrust. The ground beneath our feet is no longer firm.

Guided by the subtle structure of Nika Son's compositions for the record DRIFT, we enter into a tender noise; we allow lines, rays, layers, material and experience to emerge, briefly, for we want to keep moving. The sounds, noises, voice and music open up a space into which we can dive together for 50 minutes. The present can only be experienced in the presence of our bodies. An intimate expanse.

LP DRIFT by Nika Son, released by Futura Resistenza, 2024.

With excerpts of the original soundtrack of the film DRIFT by Helena Wittmann and excerpts of the video-sound installation Wildness of Waves by Helena Wittmann and Nika Son.

Texts by Theresa George and Helena Wittmann.



This is Part Two in a two-part event. Part One begins at 3pm, and Part Two begins at 5:30pm. A single ticket grants access to both parts.

Join us at e-flux Screening Room on Saturday, April 12 for a two-part event with Helena Wittmann featuring a 3pm screening of Human Flowers of Flesh (2022) followed at 5:30pm by a sonic lecture performance by the artist.

The event is co-presented with the e-flux, the German Film Office, and Goethe-Institut New York, in collaboration with Cinema Guild.