organisation: Beelden op de Berg, Wageningen
title exhibition: Beelden op de Berg, Exoten
curator: Kim Knoppers
track: 32:18
size: length 140 cm violins, cellos length 210 cm, length 300 cm double basses. .
materials: mahogany, ebony, brass, horsehair, steel ropes, fishing line, iron ore, iron strings. .
The location-based installation (thematic exhibition, exotic) shows different ways of how migration can succeed. The starting point is an exotic musical instrument. The rebab is considered the predecessor of today's violin. The spread of Islam and the trade routes brought the rebab from Persia to Europe. The installation consists of three violins, three cellos and three bass instruments. Each instrument has a string which can be tuned in harmony with the others. The starting point for the speaker cabinet design and its construction is the construction of the Spring Balsam bud, a plant originating from the Himalayas, which acts as an immigrant and has spread throughout the world as so-called weeds. Both the distribution of plant species as well as the migration of people transcends the imagined borders, thus helping to enrich the native species. The rebab is exemplary for this idea: Without immigration we would not know the Rebab, with the result that the violin might not, or in a different form, would have existed.
The birch trees in which the installation is hanging is also a metaphor for this idea. Birches are pioneer trees. Like the seeds of the spring balsam, birch seeds spread easily. Moreover, the easily digestible leaves enrich the soil, so that other species are easier to settle. The flexibility of the Birch is necessary for the installation to work. The horsehair bow moves over the strings of the speaker cabinets by the nylon threads attached to the treetops, and held in tension by the counterweights. Acceptance plays an important role in this story. Same is true for the playing of the violins by the wind. The system is dependent on the nature and the elements. Without the right wind they will not play. Patience and acceptance of the public is brought to the test.