The Second the Water Wets Your Face, Reflexes of Your Aquatic Ancestors Kick In
2024

audio project (38 min.)
including poster series

Listeners are invited to envelop themselves in a sensuous environment where borders between bodies blur. Insides become outsides. Guiding words mix with a detailed soundscape, built from voice and field recordings that fuse with electronic layers.

Lay down your head and focus on gut feelings. Let me peel off the sticky layers around your brain, poke a finger into the valley between your hemispheres. Relax into this bed that’s large enough to notice from outer space. We’ll make new memories, make weightless somersaults and let ourselves sink towards the sandy dance floor.

Images above: installation view at P/////AKT, Amsterdam, 2024

Concept and script: Erica van Loon
Sound: in collaboration with Daniel Steiner
Graphic design: Jan Egbers
Sparring partner throughout developing script: Alix de Massiac
Editing script: Ro Heinrich

Sources for the script were among others conversations with neuro-anatomist Cindy Cleypool, zoologist Tacyana Oliveira and marine ecologist Maarten de Brauwer.

Supported by Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Tijl Fonds and Mondriaan Fund.
Partially developed during residencies at Fundaziun Nairs and Casa di Rosa.

Image: A dance, first thing in the morning, every morning, special edition eye mask

Interview on Radio Bern’s Subkutan. Including samples (so don’t forget those headphones 🎧):

Teaser clip: