TONSPUR 65. JACOB KIRKEGAARD. EARS OF THE OTHER

TONSPUR_passage / MQ Wien
23.02.15 – 23.05.15
daily / täglich 10 – 20 h
14:50 min
a project in the context of
ein Projekt im Rahmen von DESTINATION WIEN EXTENDED – Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier

In Ethiopia, Kirkegaard asked fourteen people to describe their favorite everyday sound and worked with each of them to record that sound. From these field recordings, he made fourteen untitled sound pieces, each lasting exactly one minute.

Ethiopia is perhaps the most uniquely different place Kirkegaard has ever traveled. In order to grasp this new environment he decided to listen with the ears of the Ethiopians. To hear what they hear. On his visit Kirkegaard didn’t want to only record the sounds that he found interesting, but to record sounds that had significance to the people living there, and described their character. He therefore decided to ask the Ethiopians he met to describe their favorite sounds, the sounds they connected to the place where they grew up or where they live now. Kirkegaard then invited the people to record the sound with him, or he would record it without them but according to their description.

As a way to focus on the essence of these sounds, Kirkegaard limited the duration of each of the fourteen pieces to one minute. Like a sonic postcard from Ethiopia experienced by the bypassers of TONSPUR_passage. “Ears of the other” is an attempt to understand what other people hear by borrowing another person’s ears to experience the world from their perspective.

Jacob Kirkegaard, born in Esbjerg, Denmark in 1975, lives and works in Berlin , Germany. TONSPUR-Artist-in-Residence at quar tier21/MQ.