ULYSSES In Situ/City features young artists working in different European social contexts and creating closer relationships with European citizens. With this approach, the project aims to highlight matters of central concern for Europe today. In this year’s In Situ/City project Gaudeamus explores the nature-culture relations in the urban context of Utrecht through sound. Within three different projects, the divide between humans and nature is challenged.

Gemma Luz Bosch creates a sound installation of ceramic flutes for the three main sluices in Utrecht. The flutes sound through the changing level of the water and are part of a performance in which musicians join forces with the natural(/cultural) forces.

Annabel Schouten explores the history of Utrechts nature and culture along the Utrechtse Waterlinie. This site that historically functioned as a defence line also houses some of Utrechts oldest trees and nature.
She seeks to explore these contradictions through the theme of degradation within a sound installation that slowly degrades by the interferences of both audience and natural forces.

Espen Hjort and Mees Borgman explore communication between humans and stones. By posing the question of how we can communicate with stones they seek a more empathic relationship with the nonhumans all around us.

Matteo Gualandi brings an ode to memory as a physical space, in a ritual in which fragments of images appear as candles shivering in the dark, conveying half faded emotions, glimpses of intimacy and tenderness. Shards of a submerged collective memory far, and yet so close to us.

Schedule

February/March: workshops and research phase
April – May: work in progress presentations
July – August: rehearsals
7-11 September: performances and presentations during the Gaudeamus Festival