vliegen, liggen in gedachten

Flying a kite is both an eventful and meditative activity at the same time. The wind is unpredictable and can direct the kite in sudden directions and cause the kite to crash land. At other times the wind provides a steady flow, for the kite to stay endless in the air, only shifting sideways slightly, minute pressure changes on the cloth.

VLIG is a sound installation for one person at a time, to lie down and look at the kite, while hearing the sound of its line, transformed by the movement of the kite in the air and the flow of the wind around the kite. The listener thus has a private listening experience created in realtime by the kite flying high above her in the sky.

Mounted on the kite are sensors to measure the flow of the wind, the pressure on the cloth, the turbulence of the tail, and the acceleration of the movement. The data from the sensors is transmitted wireless to a computer – powered by solar panels – on the ground, where it is used in algorithms to transform the sound picked up by a contact microphone on the line.

Credits

V.L.I.G. was originally created for Musicaerial by Frouke Wiarda, and presented in 2012 at the Gaudeamus Festival in Utrecht and the Into the Great Wide Open Festival at Vlieland, both in the Netherlands. Reproduced for the Artefact festival, at STUK, Leuven, Belgium, in February 2016.

Original kite design by Benny Schreur, Nannette Kraaikamp (Vogels/delta) and Arnaud Gerniers (Nachtvlieger/hata).

Pillow phones created in collaboration with Tineken van Hilten.