Latest – Wouter Jaspers

2023

indeterminate structures (2023)
Exploring the complex interplay of order, chance, and freedom in the music composition process.

With this project developed new compositions and compositional techniques based on John Cage’s ‘Reunion’ – a performance in which the game of chess determines the form and spatial positioning of a musical event. In 1968, Cage played a game of chess with Marcel Duchamp at the Ryerson Theatre in Toronto, Canada, using a chessboard designed by Lowell Cross.

For my project indeterminate structures I use a specially developed chess board which allows me to use the chess game and board itself as a compositional tool. My new compositions work with famous chess games as the basis of an indeterminate score and develop a new compositional language with this ‘chess notation’.

indeterminate structures will be presented as a performative sound installation at som DEsorganizado 2023 at Sonoscopia in Porto, Portugal.

This project is supported by MUSIKFONDS within the framework of the NEUSTART KULTUR STIP-II program 2022.

Sonoscopia Studio

Back in the summer of 2022, I was asked by the team of Sonoscopia if I could help them with setting up a studio in their building in Porto, Portugal. The goal of this project is to create a space where both artists from Porto and aboard can come and make music.

After gathering a lot of donated equipment from different people in my network (thanks Stefan, thanks Jochen, thanks Darrin, thanks Martin!), and donating pieces from my own collection we got a nice start of the studio together in May 2023.

Our next goals are to set up a proper workflow for the studio and to make sure we can use the space for educational projects in the future.

THU Afternoon Talks

I was asked by my dear friends Jos Smolders and Frans de Waard to join them for a conversation about my work in their podcast Thursday Afternoon Talks.

2022

Antennenfeld

During (in)tangible transmissions on 31 July 2022 Wouter presented his installation-performance work “Antennenfeld”, a symphony for 32 radio frequencies and musical algorithms.

With self-made antennas and radio equipment Jaspers receives an ample amount of signals from all wavelengths; from disturbances in the higher regions of the ionosphere, airplane and (sub)marine communication, electromagnetic disturbances from the city, the position of the moon and lightning strikes; all will be received, processed and re-transmitted to the audience in a 45-minute work that both translates and reflects on human existence on this planet and the impact all these transmissions have on our day-to-day life.

The live recording of this date was released by Lithuanian national radio LRT Klasik.

2021 – 2022

Arctic Survey Music

Wouter Jaspers’ work Arctic Survey Music focusses on disturbances in the higher regions of the ionosphere and beyond, translating the bare sounds of nature into chance-composed music. Every electromagnetic disturbance, the position of the moon and lightning strike creates a radio pulse that can travel thousands of kilometers, bouncing between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere. This radio energy can be translated into sound by sensitive audio amplifiers and short antennas. They inherit audible artefacts of their electromagnetic journey, and these “sferics”, “tweaks” and “whistlers” have excellent musical merit. Natural radio sounds completely different than an urban man made radio environment. Jaspers’ filters all man-made sounds out and captures the radio waves emitted by the planet, its weather and the universe, translating it into music via a large antenna array. He will present this in a performative installation and will invite the audience to discover these sounds first-hand in a special workshop before and after the performance.

This project was made possible by the Berlin Senat within the framework of the Arbeitsstipendien Ernste Musik und Klangkunst 2021.