Lauschen
is an auditory performance by Iris Garrelfs that immerses the audience in a transformative journey of listening and discovery. It was originally devised in 2016 for Lausch II at Lewisham Art House, London, UK as a series curated by Rahel Kraft, but has since been performed elsewhere.
Drawing from the German word for “close listening” or “eavesdropping,” the work invites participants to reconsider the relationship with the spaces we co-inhabit and explore the very act of listening as a conduit for reflection and connection.
At the start of the performance, the audience is given an 80cm cardboard cone to hold to their ears, an object that subtly distorts the way sound enters the body and mind. By amplifying sound in one ear, this asymmetrical listening device shifts the act of hearing from passive reception to a more active, focused engagement.
As I move through the audience, I will perform an improvised, symbiotic exploration of extended voice and lo-fi electronics, re-contextualizing sound through a body-worn speaker. The performance is a fluid exchange between me, sound, space, and audience, blurring the boundaries between performer, listener and environment. The audience are free to use the cones to listen to me, each other, or the environment – sound becomes both an intimate personal experience and a collective phenomenon.
This shift in perception can feel almost magical —an invitation to hear more hidden threads that connect us to the world, to others, and even to ourselves. As such, Lauschen is not about narrative, semantic meaning, or traditional musical structures, but sound as a subtle medium, and the act of listening as a powerful and transformative tool for artistic expression and critical reflection.
READ:
Lauren Redhead (2020). Vibrant Echoes: A Material Semiotics of the Voice in Music by Iris Garrelfs and Marlo Eggplant. In: Contemporary Music Review (39:5), pp 564-579. Available from https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2020.1852801
DOCUMENTATION
5. Performance at Fly By Night, curated by Catherine Clover, at Hundred Years Gallery, 20 December 2019.
5. Performance at Iklectik , London, November 2019.
4. Performance at Electropixel 2019, symposium at Goldsmiths, University of London, 11 July 2019.
3. Performance at An acquisition of sorts, 24November 2018 Fusion Arts, Oxford
(images by Lee Riley)
2. Performance at Walcot Chapel during Bath Fringe Festival in June 2018. The event was curated by Lee Riley.
(images by Lee Riley)
1. Performance at Lausch II at Lewisham Art House, London, UK, a series curated by Rahel Kraft. 2016.
Find a video documenting the performance here: https://www.facebook.com/irisgarrelfs/videos/10154847211688065/?l=2749803556575861616
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