Collage for Anja

(1974-1976)

This is based on a story that was recorded on tape as a kind of radio play. It took place in a church. Sounds were heard such as footsteps (fast, slow), gravel, doors, garden gate, key, wind, woman’s voice, church echo and a church organ. These sounds were cut out of their chronological order and used as independent musical elements in a collage.

The collage idea is the result of my first acquaintance with the ‘musique concrète’ which originated in Paris in the 1930s. An example of early collage technique is the art of Kurt Schwitters, who picked up things from the street like cigarettes, matchboxes, shreds of newspaper and made a new entity from them.

The first presentation took place in 1977 in the former Art and Science building of the Utrecht Conservatory with Jurianne Kemmink, mime player.