DABF23: Stefan Klein and Ben Glas, 'Recordings on Dust'

As part of an ongoing series of work which led to the artist book Archiving the Universe by Stefan Klein, Recordings on Dust, a soundwork by Klein and collaborator Ben Glas will be played at intervals throughout Dublin Art Book Fair 2023.

The recordings of the sound of dust played in at DABF, supported by an interactive drone composed of physically navigable pure tone standing waves. This combination of ambient noise and standing waves creates an overall immersive layer that settles in the background of the space connecting everything together. Dust can be seen as unleashed matter. Or also as liberated matter, because the bonds with which matter is otherwise immobilised are largely removed. Just as dust does that through its state of materiality, which denies the laws of physics and does not obey to gravity lingering in the air for weeks, the sound floats in the background, yet is open to interaction and navigation by listeners.

Kasper König once said that Stefan Klein work is like the dancing procession of Esternach in Luxembourg: two steps forward, one step back. He is still not sure if this was a compliment or an insult, but he kind of likes it.

Ben Glas is an experiential composer based in Berlin. Through ephemeral compositions Glas' work questions preconceived notions between the acts of passive hearing and active listening. In seeking to discover open ended forms of music and pragmatic listening perspectives, Glas' compositions focus on the realms of subjective perception and cognition, via the use of acoustics, psychoacoustics and space as tools for sonic composition.

This event takes place as part of Dublin Art Book Fair 2023: Polyphonic, sponsored by Henry J Lyons and supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

Image description: A close-up photograph of white dust on a black studio floor.