Animating Michel Waisvisz’ archive through sound, musicians including Ji Youn Kang, Julia Giertz, Tarek Atoui, dj sniff, and others, invite the audience to a collective improvisation. Attuned to Waisvisz’s philosophy of maak wat van (make something out of it), the performance activates his spontaneous approach, which centred on creating ‘in the moment’, intuitively guided by touch, repetitiveness, and gesture. 

Each of the artists has a personal practice that speaks to Waisvisz’s ideas. Together, they will play on a selection of handmade and re-made instruments, including a re-adapted Crackle Synth by Pete Edwards. Premised on the notion that the human body is itself an interface, a connective mechanism that becomes a vital part of composition, the keyboardless, touch-sensitive Crackle Synth is tailor-made for the fluid dynamics of free improvisation. The influence of these innovative machines spans far and wide – considered to be the archetype of ‘glitch music’ or ‘circuit bending’, in the 1990s, variations of the Crackle Synth and Crackle Box were taken up by electronic acts such as Coil and Mouse on Mars. 

Artists have also built entirely new instruments based on originals in the archive – Boris Shershenkov’s AudioPuller is inspired by TapePuller, developed by Waisvisz around 1970, an experimental musical tool that works with the tangibility of cassette tapes. Conducting research and constructing various analogue circuits in a row form, Ji Youn Kang brings along self-made instruments from her extensive collection that draw direct inspiration from the late Dutch inventor and endlessly creative composer.

Boris Shershenkov, Ji Youn Kang, Julia Giertz, Tarek Atoui, dj sniff