IN SITU AMSTERDAM (JB Bollen 2000) - excerpt BLIJKMEER PADDOCKS

BLIJKMEER PADDOCKS
The paddocks around the city are not particular peaceful areas. Cars and airplanes continuously disturb the relative quietness. Cattle inhabit an area that is really part of the city, an area also used for recreation. The Dutch landscape is a product of its inhabitants, who, in this part of In Situ, travel through the fields like the athletes of the 19th century photographer Muybridge. They seem to be wanting to escape a horizon that they partly form themselves.

In Situ is an electronic composition that consists of four movements. For each movement, the composer made audio and video recordings in and around his home city of Amsterdam. These field recordings form the basic material for a large multimedia work, that includes projected moving images of the locations: Westpoint port area, Platform 1 of Central Station, Dam Square and the paddocks north of the city.

Analog processing and digital techniques were used to treat both the recorded audio material and the images, resulting in new experiences of seemingly familiar places. Although most of the audio and video is taken from the locations themselves, sometimes the material is treated so rigorously that the original source can hardly be detected.
During the composition of In Situ, the abstract sounds were treated in an instrumental manner to be able to connect to the figurative aspects of the images. Not so much the specific Amsterdam aspect of the material, but rather the original character of the locations has been a point of focus.
Total duration of all 4 parts of In Situ Amsterdam: ca. 49 minutes.

In Situ Amsterdam was commisioned by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst. A performance of In Situ Amsterdam can be realized using a DVD player, a four-channel sound system and a data-projector. It is possible to loop the performance for installation purposes. Thanks to: Anne LaBerge, David Dramm, Andries Vonk, Annelies van Esveld, Jan Wolff and Alison Isadora.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• video
• music
• composition