Silke Rys, Jenna Vergeynst
MATRIX-project: Levensdraad
Textile artist Silke Rys is working with a group of migrant women living in Kessel-Lo, on a project in which the participants ‘translate’ fragments from their life stories into textile form. They have constructed a cosy ‘conversation pit’ that you can visit during Transit.
Ellen Jacobs has created an appropriate soundscape, enriched with live music at regular intervals, and Jenna Vergeynst is preparing her harp strings with wool.
Co-production MATRIX [Centrum voor Nieuwe Muziek]
Thread of Life
Levensdraad (thread of life) brings stories, textiles and sound. Over a period of two years, a group of women from East Brabant (Belgium), hailing from all corners of the world, set out together to explore the meaning of their life stories. What began as a shared exploration grew into a project in which memory, experience and tradition become tangible and audible.
- Under the guidance of textile artist Silke Rys, the group created an intimate conversation: a circular seating area made up of fourteen hand-embroidered cushions. Stitch by stitch, the women captured their stories in fabric – knots as markers of time, colour as a vessel for memory.
- At the same time, on a parallel path, the stories were developed into a new composition for harp and tape together with composer Ellen Jacobs. Just like strands of yarn run between the strings of the harp, sounds intertwine to form an auditory life story: fragments of music, ambient sounds and memories from different stages of life merge into a tapestry of sound.
- Levensdraad opens a space where you can for a brief moment take place in someone else’s story – while you are also invited to share a part of your own story.
- This project is the result of an intensive collaboration between Ligo’s women’s group (Social Orientation and Dutch as a second language students), MATRIX [New Music Centre], and Silke Rys. The theme of ‘life story’ was explored collectively through workshops focusing on textile and sound. Both the physical installation and the composition are rooted in the participants’ personal stories, where equal attention was paid to both the quality of the process and the artistic result.
Performers
Jenna Vergeynst
Jenna Vergeynst is a Belgian harpist with a passion for new music, creation and music theatre, and a background in bioengineering. In her creative artistic practice, she seeks ways to connect with non-human life through music. Vergeynst is co-founder of the Cusk Collective, a co-creation collective of performers and composers that translates scientific knowledge about non-human life and ecological issues onto an artistic stage, through music, visual art, movement and performance.
Silke Rys
Silke Rys is a 28-year-old multidisciplinary artist, living and working in Leuven. Her textile work is almost always commissioned, which allows her to create new and unique objects with a clear purpose each time. She finds great satisfaction in translating her style into a form and format that suits a person’s space. Over the past few years, she has refined her craft of tufted carpets and sewing. She constantly asks herself how we can make the world a gentler place.
Composer
Ellen Jacobs
Composer and field recordist Ellen Jacobs uses ambient sound in her practice by zooming in on it and recontextualizing it. She explores the boundary between electronic and acoustic music, using both to shape her sonic world. She is currently delving into the often-overlooked sounds that surround us through which she seeks to deepen the connection between humans and their environment, inspiring curiosity about the multiple layers of this world around us.