Physical map
I picked up a stone
and placed it on my map.
I copied the outline
to determine a path for a walk.
Seven walks
I took a walk and recorded the sound.
Each following day I took the same walk
and recorded the sound again, synchronising my footsteps
with the earlier recording through my headphones.
Vanishing point
I leave the house and stroll into the forest.
While I walk, I pick up stones,
and put these in a bag.
Right and left
I walk in the forest.
With my right hand I pick up stones,
and with my left I put them down again.
Mingle 3
1 January 2025
I called you. We did not speak.
Our phones were connected for 60 seconds, the speakers at full volume.
The sounds of our surroundings mingled, somewhere between us.
A Day
21 December 2024
52° 00′ 27.99″ N, 04° 21′ 24.96″ E
At sunrise (08:45 CET).
I started to walk
in western direction.
Neutral ground
Collaboration with Martine Viale,
Portbou (border), Catalunya,
12 October 2024
Origins
Today
I took a walk along a gravel path.
At regular intervals
I picked up small pebbles
and collected these in a bag.
Staan
Staan, Maumont, 2012, photo.
Related works:
Staan (1992)
Staan (2002)
Staan (2010)
Staan (2010)
Staan (2017)
Staan (2020)
Staan, a series of exercises
Staan, watching waters flow
Route de la Petite Forêt
in Northern and in Southern direction.
10 February 2024, 13:50 (CET)
Boucle
A 7.4 km circular walk,
ascending and descending,
through woods, across fields,
over asphalt, through grass, dead leaves,
over gravel, through mud and puddles.
Maumont (F)
26 January 2024
Stereo sound file
01:17:40
Junction
Please watch the video full screen with sound on.
The camera moves along four paths at a junction in the forest near Hautefort, France.
At the same time, through a phone call A describes what they observe
as they simultaneously make the same movement at the intersection of two roads in Chicago
during the morning rush hour.
Someplace else
Someplace Else is a durational walk for two performers in two very different places. Adrian Wood and Frans Van Lent take a walk in their respective cities - Chicago, IL and Rotterdam, the Netherlands – taking turns calling one another to report their surroundings. While one reports what they/he sees, hears and smells from standing still in their location, the other walks and listens. They trade off, creating a rhythm of phone calls that punctuate the durational 90 minute sound walk performance.
Read moreSky between us
We were facing each other,
500 kilometres apart,
simultaneously filming the sky between us.
24 hours
14/15 June 2023
For 24 hours, I drove an improvised route,
with a 10-minute break every hour,
eventually arriving back at the starting point.
The total distance was 892 kilometres.
Twice
Llauro, France
May 2023
Click on the images to enlarge.
On the same day,
I took the same walk twice.
Reversed
Rotterdam-Maastricht-Rotterdam
6 June 2023
During a train journey,
I sat at a window.
I voiced what I saw outside,
and recorded it with a sound recorder.
On the return journey,
I sat in the opposite seat, wearing headphones
and as I looked outside,
I listened to the reversed audio file.
Focus
1 May 2023
I was looking at the lens of the camera.
And in doing so, I was also looking at myself,
still hidden in the future.
Original footage recorded in 1998
SD, no sound 9.55 min.
Duet
La Puebla de Castro, Spain
14 May 2023
From the trees overhanging the path came the sound of a nightingale.
I recorded the sound with my phone and then played it loudly.
The nightingale responded and sang a duet with its own captured song.
Logs
I found a random composition of logs under a sawn-off tree
and accurately mirrored the arrangement.
Anchor
During a train journey from St. Moritz to Zermatt, across the Alps, I wrote continuously for eight hours.
The places we were
On 24 July 2018, while walking in the Perigord, I had phone conversations with friends about the places we were at the moment: The places where we are (or would like to be). During these talks, we sent each other pictures of our surroundings.
For me, this occasion connected the conversations to the specific places; they became inextricably linked.
I cannot walk past these places now without thinking of the person I was talking to there, and of the conversation we had.
La Loue
Walking the river.
An audio portrait composed of sound recorded at a series of locations,
further and further downstream.
Mingle 2
1 January 2023
I called you. We didn’t speak.
Our phones were connected for 60 seconds, the speakers at full volume.
The sounds of our surroundings mingled, somewhere between us.
Journeys
Between Rotterdam and Breda
8 December 2022.The train ran from A to B in sixty minutes.
During that time, I walked from the back to the front of the train.
Speed
Between Düsseldorf and Munich
23 October 2022.
In a train,
running at high speed,
I moved as slowly as possible.
Same
As I woke up this morning,
at exactly the same time as yesterday,
I decided to try the day all over again:
same walk, same meal, same read.
Script of a walk (no breaks)
This walk took place on 16 September 2022,
over a distance of 8.4 km and lasted 126 minutes.
Staan
Staan (2017), photo.
Related works:
Staan (1992)
Staan (2002)
Staan (2010)
Staan (2010)
Staan (2012)
Staan (2020)
Staan, a series of exercises
Staan, watching waters flow
Read more
Sleeps
I invited friends
to make a ten minute long audio recording
of someone close sleeping.
In editing I superimposed the recordings
as layers into one combined file,
a document of collective intimacy.
Binoculars
On a walk in the forest, I stopped at an intersection.
I turned around and, looking through my binoculars,
I imagined myself walking on the path behind me a moment earlier.
Then I turned back again and, looking at the path in front of me,
I imagined myself walking there a moment later.
The Virtual Reality
I sit in front of a map and a notebook.
I look at the map and in my mind I follow a path I have walked many times before.
I imagine the walk in real time. I make notes of what I pass, of what I might see and of the directions I follow.
It takes 42 minutes, just as long as it takes me to actually walk the route.
In the light of the full moon
In the light of the full moon
I took a picture
of a stone and a little sand
on a piece of black cotton.
Maumont, July 13, 2022
La Têt
Perpignan (F)
18 June 2022
In collaboration with Martine Viale.
We stand motionless facing each other on both sides of the river, at the boundary of the water. Our spread arms confirm the direction from which the water comes and to which side it flows.
To Hiroomi
Click to enlarge
As a friendly gesture to Hiroomi Horiuchi,
I walked and recorded the first hour of the route
from my home in Maumont, Hautefort, France
to his home in Kichijōji, Musashino, Tokyo, Japan.
June 12, 2022
Read moreA chain
Click to enlarge
Hautefort, France
I drove my car to the castle and parked at the top of the hill.
I left the car, picked up a pebble (1) and walked down the hill. At the fork, I dropped the pebble and picked up a dandelion leaf (2).
Night-time
For three days, the studio was open to the public from 11:00 to 19:00.
This means the artworks were left alone sixteen hours a day .
With no one around, the works have no need to interact,
they are simply objects without meaning, like any other.
Mingling
In the morning I walked into the woods, carrying an audio recorder.
After a while, I stopped and listened to the sounds around me.
I pressed the record button.
Sunday
Crossfaded stereo sound recording
of the first 15 minutes of sunrise at 8:20 AM (left channel)
simultaneously with
the last 15 minutes to sunset until 17:57 AM (right channel).
45° 15′ 00″ N 1° 06′ 19″ E
I am here.
I call a friend and she answers the call.
Via a video connection I lead her through the scenery
and I describe in words what we are looking at.
My description structures the first few minutes of our conversation.
After that, our talk meanders naturally in all directions.
Merging spaces
in collaboration with Elia Torrecilla
Two simultaneous improvised sound walks in the streets of Valencia (Spain) and Badefols d'Ans (France).
Sounds were created through the improvised use of everything we encountered while walking.
The continuous exchange of the live sounds over the phone allowed for immediate feedback and reaction.
Both recordings were superimposed in the editing process,
and retained their own stereo structure,
making them part of a shared sound space.
Distances
Click on the photo to enlarge.
I am standing in a field in southwest France.
My phone is in front of me in the grass.
A is standing in a field in southeast Scotland,
with his phone to his ear.
Our phones are connected.
Spill
At the Río Segura I filled a glass with water, and I walked up the mountain.
I stopped at a spot from where I had a clear view at the valley and the river below.
With the glass in my hand, I bent down slowly and repeatedly,
synchronised with the rhythm of my breathing.
With each bending movement, water spilled from the glass onto the ground.
The work was finished when the glass was empty.
Empathic exercise
I walked beside the river,
adjusting constantly my steps to the speed of the current.
Upstream
Along the Segura,
I walked upstream
carrying two 5-litre containers of drinking water.
Blanca, Spain
10 November 2021
b/w-photo
Related to:
Up Stream (2016)
Stone and ball
From the street the artist throws a stone into the gallery,
from the gallery the curator throws a ball into the street.
Performed on 6 November, 2021
at FantastikLab, Valencia, Spain.
Curator: E.Torrecilla.
Memory Allocation
In the Parque De Las Cuevas (38° 10′ 36″ N 1° 22′ 06″ W) in Blanca, Spain, there is an empty semi-circle of sand measuring about 60 by 30 metres. At the outer edge of the semicircle are ten benches, arranged in groups of four, two, three and one. The benches face the centre of the space. Between and beside these groups of benches, there are five straight walkways, which are directed towards the centre like radials. The Rio Segura runs along the flat side of the semicircle.
Staan, watching waters flow
while travelling in a southerly direction:
seven times ten minutes
standing in a frozen position
arms beside my body,
watching waters flow.
Blanca, Rio Segura
Route de Maumont
Participation to La Biennale de Momon.
Route de Maumont
For most of us, Maumont proved to be an impossible destination. We had to approach it by means of just our imagination. Knowing the village for so long, I created a walk to show the real Maumont from a distance in seven photo positions. As soon as we can travel again, we could walk this route to emphasize and celebrate the long unattainable heart of our project.
Download a pdf of the route in your language to use offline on your mobile:
A Scene #32: Back and forth
30 October, 2021.
I am standing on a bridge over the Río Segura in Ojos (38° 08′ 58″ N 1° 20′ 22″ W), Spain.
At the same time, G. is standing on another bridge over the Río Segura, in Blanca (38° 10′ 46″ N 1° 22′ 41″ W), 7 km upstream. Our phones are on speakerphone and the volume is on maximum.
At 2.20 pm (CEST) I call G.
She picks up. We don’t speak a word, but keep the line open.
We point our phones down at the fast-flowing water under the bridges.
Ten minutes later, at 2.30 pm, we disconnect.
In collaboration with Giuli Grippo.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #31: Both sides
38° 10.7269′ N, 01° 22.5945′ W
I am sitting on a chair on a terrace. On the table in front is a glass of beer. Opposite me, at the other side of the street, is a wall to which a galvanised drainpipe is attached. The wall is plastered in a dark brown colour to about 1.20 metres high. Above that, the wall is pink. The pavement in front of the wall consists of grey tiles, stained and dirty.
I was wearing sunglasses, a black short-sleeved shirt, grey shorts and black sandals. In my left hand I had a notebook. I was looking at a plastic chair, behind a rattan table. I imagined myself sitting there today. I had no idea what I would be wearing and what drink I would have in front of me.
That is what I remember.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #30: A street where nobody speaks
On Friday, August 20, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., users of the Neißstraße (between Weberstraße and Uferstraße) in Görlitz (D), were personally addressed, and asked not to speak or to make any other noise. Small cards were handed out with the following texts:.
“Liebe FuBgängerin, lieber FuBgänger,
Heute, am 20. August, ist diese StraBe ein Ort der Stille. Bitte tragen Sie dazu bei, indem Sie während
lhren Spaziergang nicht sprechen oder Lärm machen. Wir danken lhnen herzlich für 1hr Engagement.”
–
“Drogi przechodniu,
Dziś, 20 sierpnia, ulica ta jest miejscem ciszy. Prosimy o nie rozmawianie i nie halasowanie podczas spaceru. Dziękujemy za Państwa zaangażowanie.”
A Scene #30 was part of STRE!FEN performance festival
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #29: The real world
On Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 2:20 PM (UTC + 1) I stood in front of the door of a house,
Grotekerksbuurt 36, in Dordrecht, the Netherlands (lat: 51.813892, long: 4.66324, alt: 0).
On the door was a poster, showing the exact location, date and time.
I stayed there until the time ran out.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #28: A parallel improvisation
in collaboration with Steef van Lent
On Saturday January 9, in the afternoon, we drove through the city of Rotterdam.
S drove his car in the northern part of the city, while I drove in the southern part of the city.
At exactly 2:20 pm I called S on the hands-free phone. During our call, we both spoke out loud the names of the streets we were driving through. The conversation took 25 minutes and was recorded.
Later I drew the routes on the satellite photo of Rotterdam. I connected the mentioned streets on either side of the river.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
Nycthemeron
installation
Nycthemeron shows the course of a rowboat through the canal around Fort Maarsseveen.
In 24 consecutive hours, 24 fragments of the tour were rowed and captured on video.
The accumuluated time is 10’24 minutes, which is the time it takes
to row around the fortress in one continuous run.
The video was played in an endless loop.
Nycthemeron is a one-screen installation,
presented at Fort Maarsseveen during the Waterdicht-project (July 3 - September 26, 2021).
Video of the work: Nycthemeron
In this online presentation, the video is playing 3 times in a row (31'11 min. )
camera: Steef van Lent
Nycthemeron is related to:
L’espace vingt-quatre heures (2020) and
24 hours (2023).
Horizon
photographic print
Text line:
After taking this picture, I went to where the horizon touches the right-hand side of this work.
From there I walked to the left, to where the horizon touches the left-hand side.
Walking this line took 19 minutes and 24 seconds.
Leave
I avoided experiencing my movements as arriving at a place.
Read more
Camera
for an hour
I walked with my camera
its size is 10 x 14 x 15 cm
its weight is 1.021 gr
I carried it in my hand.
Shared darkness
In collaboration with Manuela Macco
15 minutes
We are standing
motionless
at different locations
in shared darkness.
Biella, IT. - Dordrecht, NL.
After two try-outs (1 December, 4 January),
we carry out the work every first night of six consecutive months,
from 12:00 a.m. till 12:15 a.m. (USC+1), starting March 1, 2021.
What is left
Walk a straight line of 100 steps,
walk 90 steps in the opposite direction,
reflect on what is left.
Staan, a series of exercises
a series of exercises
On a balcony in Recklinghausen (photo Ton Kraayeveld)
1. For 15 minutes I stood on a balcony at the first floor of a hotel in Recklinghausen, Germany. My face toward the East, my arms beside my body.
Read moreL'espace vingt-quatre heures
I walked around the village 24 times in 24 successive hours.
I captured all walks on video.
I merged 24 fragments, 1 fragment of every walk,
into one combined video.
Skinless
I measure my body temperature.
I wait until the outside thermometer shows about the same value.
I find a wind-free spot in the shade and imagine my body is skinless.
A Scene #27: Private, dark mode
On Saturday 12 December at 02:00 (UTC+1) I was standing motionless at the window of my living room (51.8137612 N, 4.671336 E) for 15 minutes, and looked into the nocturnal street. My face to the South, my arms beside my body.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #26: Private
I was standing in the backyard of my house for 15 minutes, with my eyes closed, my arms beside my body. Because the frontdoor was closed, it was not possible to join the scene on location. The event was documented live on video and presented in realtime on the facebook event-page.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #25: Time, Rate, Distance
On Monday 28 September 2020 at 2:28 PM (CEST) I was standing outside my studio (51.8085854, 4.6706976), with my back to the front door.
I set the timer on my phone at 2:44 PM.
I checked the compass which direction I am facing.
At exactly 2.30 pm I started to move forward. I walked round blocks when necessary, to get as far as possible in the direction I was facing.
When the alarm on my phone went off at 2:44 PM, I stopped moving for two minutes.
At exactly 2:46 PM I turned 180 ° and walked back the same route at the same speed.
At 3 PM I arrived at the starting point and entered the building.
This work was performed simultaneously by approximately 40 people at different locations in the Netherlands.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #24: Leave the Place
On Saturday July 4 2020 at 2 p.m. (CEST) I was standing in front of the bronze doors of Blaak 10, Rotterdam (5155.1223,N, 00429.3217,E).
At exactly 2.20 pm I walked towards the train station (Blaak), descended the stairs, went to platform 3 and took the first train in southern direction.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #23: Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time.
Saturday June 27.
I was standing at Hofplein, Rotterdam (5155.4866 N, 00428.6858 E), facing Coolsingel.
At 2:00 (CEST) I walked in the direction of Beurs metro station, where I earlier parked my bicycle. I took my bike and cycled on in the same direction, Schiedamse Dijk. I passed Erasmus bridge, Wilhelmina square and stopped at Kop van Zuid, where I earlier parked my car. I put my bicycle in the boot, got in the car and continued my way in the same direction.
About A Scene #23: Acceleration
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #22: Call
On Saturday 23 May 2020 at 2:20 PM (CEST), I stood in the middle of the food market at Statenplein, Dordrecht, the Netherlands (5148.8870 N, 00440.1692 E).
I looked around until I recognised someone, and while I was looking at this person I grabbed my phone and called him to ask how things are. After a while, I made clear that I was within visual distance, stopped the conversation and raised my arm to say goodbye. I left the market.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #21: Up and Down
On Saturday, April 11 2020, from 2:00 till 2:30 PM (CEST) I was pacing up and down between the iron gate and the front door of the studio building Singel 222, Dordrecht (51.8085854, 4.6706976).
Please, keep your distance!
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #20: Ocean
On Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 2:20 PM (CET) I was standing in the aisle of a flying Boeing 767-300 between the Netherlands and Iceland. With my eyes closed, my arms beside my body, I was for 15 minutes contemplating the enormity of the ocean below.
In memory of Antoinette Reuten.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
A Scene #19: Doubts
On Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 2:20 PM (CEST) I was in the middle of a field at Ons Park, Feijenoordstraat, 3071 LN Rotterdam, (51 ° 54’53.5 “N 4 ° 29’50.4” E).
I considered the direction where I came from and I considered and reconsidered where to go from there.
When I made a decision, I left in the chosen direction.
About Scenes:
On this website and on Facebook I announce small events that will take place at a certain location and at a certain moment in the near future.
Everybody is invited to be at the exact spot at the exact time to contribute to the scene with his/her own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
3 Nocturnal walks
Three recordings of public silent walks:
On July 22, 2020, from 4:30 till 5:30 AM, I made a silent walk in the city of Dordrecht.
I named the audio recording after Adri, with whom I made my very first silent night walk 50 years ago.
The audio recording is an unedited realtime track.
West wind
I am standing on a windy beach in Hook of Holland, Netherlands.
By text message I contact a friend who is walking in Bond street, Brooklyn, NYC.
I ask him to turn up the volume of his phone as loud as possible. I then call him.
We don’t speak a word but we let the buffeting wind noise of my phone
sound through that street on the other side of the ocean.
Thanks to Ed Woodham.
Read moreSilences
I invited twenty artists to make a ten minutes long audio recording of Silence.
Each one of them decided where, how and in what conditions they wanted to do this.
I superimposed all submitted recordings as layers into one combined file.
¿Cuánto es 1km?
This day, May 2, 2020, the first day after a 40-day Corona-quarantine, residents of Spain will be allowed to go out for sporting or hiking on fixed time slots. This is only permitted within a radius of one km from home.
The Spanish government opened a website (https://1km.geomatico.es) where residents can find exactly what this means concerning their own situation.
On this website I discovered where a comparable circle would reach, starting from my home in the Netherlands, in case our government applied the same rules.
Elia Torrecilla and I agreed to take a parallel walk.
Call III
Some time ago I published an open invitation to call me on Friday, May 1, between 1 PM and 2 PM (CEST).
That first day in May I walked in a rural area in the southwest of the Netherlands.
When the phone rang I did not answer the call. Instead I took a picture of what I was looking at on that moment.
I then sent that picture to the number that appeared on my phone. I sent 48 photos.
Level
Two 30 minute digital audio recordings of the North Sea,
made simultaneously (16:00 UTC, 23.04.2020)
on the East coast of Scotland, (56° N.);
and on the West coast of the Netherlands (52° N.).
Synchronised and mixed together into one stereo file.
A Chair as Any Other
performed at the
WHAT REMAINS festival
February 22, 2020
DfbrL8r, ARC Gallery,
Chicago, IL
For nine years the red folding chair was a defining object in the DfbrL8r-archives.
In those years the chair was used in at least five performances of different artists.
I decided to find it a new home, to take it away from the spotlights
and to bring it to a place where it could lose its artistic background
and become the mundane object it was meant to be.
In the performance I read a text explaining the process and results.
Vierkant
At the start of the performance, the attendees are asked not to take any photos or videos.
A square of 200 cm by 200 cm is plotted on the wall with masking tape. The enclosed space is then painted with the same whitewash the walls were previously painted with. When the painting is finished, the masking tape is removed and the floor is cleaned of any spilled paint.
It is still possible to distinguish the square, but as the paint dries, the square will fade and merge with its surroundings.
The attendees leave when all traces have disappeared.
