Size: variable
Technique: wood, metal, glass, sound
Year: 2022

The Muziekgebouw as an instrument

As soon as you realize it, you can’t help but pause for a moment. A whistling bridge, a revolving door that sets off a tone, a handrail that hums as your hand passes over it. Visitors discover 'In Fis' as they move through the building.

The Muziekgebouw invited artist Paulien Barbas to create an artwork for its public areas. That resulted in five separate interventions in and around the building. During the process, Barbas collaborated with musicians, as well as woodworkers and metalworkers to produce a surprising environment which includes both sonic and architectural elements. By altering and emphasizing small aspects of the environment, she made sounds become perceptible, making us more aware of our surroundings. This all in musical scale F-sharp, for that is the common denominator of the various interventions.

Together the interventions tell their own story, the story of sounds that have always been there. Intensifying them allows us to hear ourselves in open space. We become part of the space. It all functions as a prelude to that which awaits us when the doors of the Concert Hall open.

For more information download the folder.
Article in Het Parool (Dutch)