Curatorial Statement:
Most festivals showcasing work labeled as 'field recording' or 'phonography' unwittingly perpetuate the domination of the visual over the auditory.
Marcel Duchamp referred to art whose appeal is mainly or exclusively to the eye rather than to the mind as 'retinal.' Likewise much of the current crop of field recording could be referred to as 'retinal sound.'
The sounds of birds, cicadas, distant wolves, wind in trees and other natural sounds featured in many field recordings are often referred to as 'sound walks', 'sonic postcards' or 'cinema for the ears.' These terms openly reinforce the dominance of the visual over the auditory.
Ironically, field recording remains fixated on what the listener 'sees' rather than what they ‘hear’.
If sound artists are to break from the dominance of the visual, recordings should be made in locations where the listener is unable to see, unable to be in physically; places visually obscure or hidden thereby forcing the listener to rely on their imagination when conjuring mental imagery.
One could call this: 'anti-retinal sound.'

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Gespräch mit Valie Export, April 2004
 

Felicia Herrschaft: Indem, wie sie sich jetzt als Medienkünstlerin verstehen, wie hat das angefangen?

Valie Export: Ich komme aus einem bürgerlichen Haushalt, aus einer bürgerlichen Familie, also meine Mutter hat drei Mädchen – großgezogen, mein Vater ist im Krieg gefallen und meine Mutter hat auf jeden Fall den Augenmerk darauf gelegt, dass alle ihre drei Töchter studieren und das alle ihre drei Töchter eben mit Kultur und mit kulturellen Ausdrücken wie Theater und Musik und auch darstellende Kunst in Verbindung kommen.

by raphael rubinstein 5/4/09

For the past year or so I’ve become increasingly aware of a kind of provisionality within the practice of painting. I first noticed it pervading the canvases of Raoul De Keyser, Albert Oehlen, Christopher Wool, Mary Heilmann and Michael Krebber, artists who have long made works that look casual, dashed-off, tentative, unfinished or self-cancelling. In different ways, they all deliberately turn away from “strong” painting for something that seems to constantly risk inconsequence or collapse.

Lang verwacht en uiteindelijk ook gekomen: de openingstoespraak van Dr. Ben Schomakers bij On a Clear Day.

Ik had de tekst al lang, maar door computer-problemen nu pas op het net!

Maar het wachten is niet voor niets geweest: lees die tekst!

Transcendence towards authenticity
Opening address to the group exhibition On a clear day, I can see forever
@BCM, Tilburg
May 16th, 2009

1.
It is by no means an easy task to speak some general introductory words to this exhibition, firstly because of the horrific acoustics, and secondly, and more importantly because the works of art on display, as you already may have glimpsed, are incredibly heterogeneous. In this beautiful but still rather limited space, formerly a chapel, you will find paintings, water colours, prints, collages, sculptures, installations, even textile art, which are in their own genres again conspicuously diverse in style and technique. At first sight it may not be clear what they have in common, not even whether they have something in common at all. But they do....