07.06.2018 — 17.06.2018
Ruben Nachtergaele
Atelier residency

Beginning of summer residency

 

A maximalist approach in exploring music and sound

 

“It’s all about listening: trying to reveal the core of an event, of a place, of somebody. And then: trying to capture the sonic reality and finding a way to present that to other listeners. In this process, organising and labelling is crucial. I use both connotation (a story) as the intrinsic quality (pure sound as a physical phenomenon) to deal with my recordings.
Apart from this pure and minimal approach, processing the recordings can be a way of creating completely new realities. Juxtaposition and  composition can form new dynamics, new meanings. In this way, I want to add something new  and valuable  to the world; create perspective.

As an architect, I am naturally interested in the context of  sound, and the amount of ‘space’ it contains. This is in the first place a technical issue (scale, distance, reverberation, reflections, recording methods) but also an emotional issue. A sound can, for instance, carry a history – of a place – in it, it can contain a present or a past event. Starting from and working with all this material, I am interested in creating mental spaces.”

Lately his solo-work is again focusing on sound art installation and field recording. In various projects and collaborations he uses his skills as a sound designer, sound engineer and audio-post-production-guy (ADR, SFX, set recording, re-recording mixer, mixer).

Image © Wunderkammer (2018) by Ruben Nachtergaele

Originally trained as an architect, Ruben Nachtergaele has explored a maximalist approach in exploring music and sound. Active listening (recording) has always been a native attitude to explore the environment (social, ecologic, geo-politic). It’s a way to focus, reflect and interact.

He has worked, performed or presented installation work in Critical Path, Sydney, ctrl-alt-del Istanbul, klink og bank Reycjavik, Wiener festwoche, Happy New Ears, STUK, Worm, Almost Cinema, Europe house Tbilisi, international art centre Vooruit, STAM Ghent and many others.

Go to his website for more information.

All textual and photographical credits go to Ruben Nachtergaele.