“shift coordinate points” (2005)
“signal to noise” (2006)
If you've ever owned a short-wave radio receiver, chances are that at some point you’ve come accross one of the numerous so-called "numbers stations" or "spy stations". To whom belong these voices, tirelessly reciting seemingly random series of numbers, phonems and words. And who are these cryptic messages meant for? The messages are irreversibly encrypted, their contents unintelligible to anyone but the designated receiver. Radio amateurs and fanatics who have been monitoring the phenomenon for many years are convinced that the stations are operated by intelligence and secret services worldwide, as a means of dispatching coordinates and assignments to their operatives abroad.
Esther Venrooy (The Netherlands, 1974) studied classical saxophone at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem, followed by a composer in residence programme at the European Dance Development Center. During this period she started using digitally manipulated sound in dance and performance-oriented pieces. She coordinated and developed a "tryptich" dance piece based on the works of Francis Bacon called Three Movements for a Figure. VEsther has explored digital sound processing techniques at the Institute for Psycho-acoustics and Electronic Music (IPEM) in Ghent, Belgium where she still resides. Her research at the IPEM resulted in a public performance in Ghent where the various pieces were presented to the audience through an 8-channel sound system.
While initially functional, Esther Venrooy’s music has evolved into a more independent means of expression. She combines traditional composition techniques with personal working methods: “my compositions are created very much in the way that films are edited ... juxtaposing aural images and snippets of noise into an overall impression”. Found sounds are digitally manipulated and combined with electronically generated noise, deconstructed speech patterns and traditional instruments.
“signal to noise” (2006)
If you've ever owned a short-wave radio receiver, chances are that at some point you’ve come accross one of the numerous so-called "numbers stations" or "spy stations". To whom belong these voices, tirelessly reciting seemingly random series of numbers, phonems and words. And who are these cryptic messages meant for? The messages are irreversibly encrypted, their contents unintelligible to anyone but the designated receiver. Radio amateurs and fanatics who have been monitoring the phenomenon for many years are convinced that the stations are operated by intelligence and secret services worldwide, as a means of dispatching coordinates and assignments to their operatives abroad.
Esther Venrooy (The Netherlands, 1974) studied classical saxophone at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem, followed by a composer in residence programme at the European Dance Development Center. During this period she started using digitally manipulated sound in dance and performance-oriented pieces. She coordinated and developed a "tryptich" dance piece based on the works of Francis Bacon called Three Movements for a Figure. VEsther has explored digital sound processing techniques at the Institute for Psycho-acoustics and Electronic Music (IPEM) in Ghent, Belgium where she still resides. Her research at the IPEM resulted in a public performance in Ghent where the various pieces were presented to the audience through an 8-channel sound system.
While initially functional, Esther Venrooy’s music has evolved into a more independent means of expression. She combines traditional composition techniques with personal working methods: “my compositions are created very much in the way that films are edited ... juxtaposing aural images and snippets of noise into an overall impression”. Found sounds are digitally manipulated and combined with electronically generated noise, deconstructed speech patterns and traditional instruments.
