This publication contains a collection of 600 sentences, or fragments of sentences, that I overheard from passers-by in the crowded centre of Dublin during my artists residency in the Red Stable Studios in the spring of 2011. see more: copying as a ritual act.
On the street I immediately repeated what I heard - or thought I heard - into the microphone of a recorder. In doing so, I didn't just concentrate on the words but also on the intonation and the dynamics of the fragment.
In the studio, I listened to the fragments over and over again in an attempt to write down, in words, my imitations of the sounds and to provide them with an intonation line.
By listening to the sounds and reading the notations I am able to vocally reproduce the fragments which I did for an audience at Pallas Projects, an artist run space in Dublin.
Visitors were able to recognise dialogue in sounds that sometimes were for me completely abstract.
I realized then that something similar happened to me when reading Joyce's Finnegans Wake out loud: by pronouncing words that seemed meaningless in print, I often became aware of a name or a meaning.
The publication contains reproductions of 60 numbered A4 notation sheets, each of which contain 10 handwritten fragments of speech, together with an audio-cd of 60 numbered tracks in which the fragments can be listened to.
I dedicate this publication to my mother, Wiesje Horvers-Vlamings, who would often entertain our family with perfect imitations of the characteristic ways of speaking of our shop's customers.
voice and writing: Toine Horvers,
sound recording: Charley van Rest, Silent M studios Rotterdam,
scanning and printing: Ernst Dinkla Eindhoven,
A4 sheets: Bond 90 grs,
pencil: Faber Castell 2B,
cd-duration: 59:17 minutes,
edition: 50 copies