61 Stijn Demeulenaere 2015

61 is the first work out of Stijn Demeulenaere's artistic research on the phenomenology of sound, or the phenomenology of listening, and was developed during a residency at Overtoon. The installation researches his own history as a listener. In 61 he is working with the recordings he made in his parental home a couple of years ago. The house itself has disappeared since then.

In those last months of the house, he recorded all the sounds he could get his hands on. 61 works with recordings of room tones - the signature background sounds of a room - and a special surround sound setup, using normal and hyperdirectional speakers. The hyperdirectional speakers are mounted on moving pan/tilt units, thus creating a continuously moving grid of sound. It explores how a house - Stijn's house, your house, our house - sounds. Which role does sound play in making us feel at home? What does 'a home' sound like, what does your home sound like? How much is this background sound part of our own history, our own identity? How has it contributed to the person the artist is today, or the person he will be tomorrow?