An evening around attentive listening through the work of two artist-researchers that create immersive sound installations, sound landscapes, or films in which listening triggers the imagination and creates a special relationship with the audience.

“As humans we are always looking for meaning in what we experience and we are always projecting ourselves onto our surroundings, even when we see, hear or experience nothing.”

On the Process of Becoming Silent and Listening, essay film by Esther Venrooij

Roel Heremans is a transdisciplinary artist working with sound, composed introspection and neurofeedback. In most of his works he composes fragments of audio that trigger the imagination of visitors in order to create immersive group experiences.As a result the visitors simultaneously become actors, witnesses, performers and reenactors of mental and physical processes of thought and movement, where collective performances encounter individual reactions and vice versa.

Esther Venrooij considers her dual roles as artist and composer as occupying two different sensorial planes. She creates work in a variety of media, such as composed music, improvised combinations of electronica, video and site-specific installations. With a sharp focus, both in her studies and creative impulses on audio topography, she explores the way sound and movements inhabits space. Having collaborated live and in the studio with a variety of visual, sound and dance artists, Venrooij’s biography reads like a mixed media map of projects. She has performed and presented her works extensively for audiences in Europe, Asia and United States. In November 2015, she completed her PhD studies in Art at KULeuven with an exhibition of a series of sound installations and a dissertation: ‘Audio Topography: The Interaction of Sound, Space and Medium’. In 2018, she was granted a ZAP-mandate at KULeuven, in the field “Spatial Experiences: Spatial Experiences: Visual, Auditory, Sensorimotor, Tactile and Conceptual” and is she supervising doctoral research projects.

Talk with a projection of the artists’ work. Find de recording of the talk here.

Tuesday 20 December 2022 at 7pm

iMAL

Quai Des Charbonnages 30 – 34
Koolmijnenkaai 30 -34
1080 BRUSSELS
Tel.: +32 2 410 30 93

About LEONARDO/ISAST
Leonardo fosters transformation at the nexus of art, science and technology, because complex problems require creative solutions. We serve to empower an inclusive global network, a borderless community where all belong in pursuit of a more vibrant, just and regenerative world. A fearless pioneer since 1968, Leonardo serves as THE community forging a transdisciplinary network to convene, research, collaborate and disseminate best practices at the nexus of arts, science and technology worldwide.

About LASER Talks
Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of LASER is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building. The LASER Talks Brussels are moderated and curated by Alexandra Dementieva and Edith Doove.

About Adem Adem asbl/vzw is Nonprofit organisation based in Brussels, Belgium. It develops and produces artistic creations and participates in the realization and artistic production of projects, covering all aspects of artistic creations, all disciplines and in particular multimedia, science, communication, journalism, it organizes events -talks, performances, exhibitions.

About CYLAND
Founded in 2007, CYLAND is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the intersection of Art :: Tech through an annual international festival, visual exhibitions, sound art, video art, and educational programming. CYLAND brings together artists, curators, technologists, educators, and thinkers to create innovative projects around the world.

About iMAL
iMAL is a space for artistic practices around the creative and critical use of new technologies. iMAL connects a community of artists, thinkers, makers and citizens from Belgium and abroad and offers a completely renewed infrastructure to support a program focusing on research, production and presentation.

For press enquiries please contact Christiana Kazakou
Program Engagement Specialist, LEONARDO/ISAST
lasertalks@leonardo.info

Image references Roel Heremans:

• Portrait of Roel Heremans – photo by Rachel Gruijters

• The NeuroRight Arcades on Ars Electronica Festival – photo by Roel Heremans

• Quartet A at De Brakke Grond Amsterdam- photo by Nick Chesnaye

Image references Esther Venrooij :

• The drawings on the table > “Worktable Esther Venrooij”, 2022.

• Selfportrait in Rabat Morocco, 2022.

• Microphone drawing > From a series of drawings for the exhibition “On Resonance” curated by Eric Thielemans

• Double screening > Installation view “On the Process of Becoming Silent and Listening” (2021)