sound¹  /saʊnd/  vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear.

Movement is essential to life and art. Helen is interested in how we perceive movement, how we use it and how it changes us.

“Nothing Happens Until Something Moves.”  Albert Einstein

“I have always been interested in movement and gesture in music and how, in the broadest sense, movement makes sound. During the last 40 years this preoccupation has grown and now the movement of people around a space or through a landscape is often the driving force in a piece of work.  

Artmusic was created in 1999 to facilitate collaboration between artists and to foster dialogue between disciplines.  We were interested in finding ways to encourage a more active way of engaging with art. Footprints was the first in a series of installations where the presence and movement of people around a space triggered unique combinations of sounds and music, leading to the description of these works as ‘public choreography’.  

From the late 2000s we began to take this work outdoors, stretching music and performance across urban and rural landscapes. Movement and walking in these pieces was either part of the work or essential to experiencing the work. 

I noticed around the same time an increase in outdoor arts of all kinds and a movement in the art world away from meetings around tables. Walking while talking, working or creating seemed to imbue thought processes, conversation and ideas with more freedom, imagination and innovation than the same activities carried out sitting in a room. 

From the swing of an arm to ring a bell or bow a string to the mass movement of people through a space, the relationship between movement and artwork continues to be a central thread in my creative practise.”  

Guest

Helen Ottaway

(United Kingdom) 

Moderator

•

Geert Vermeire

co-founder of walk · listen · create (Belgium)