Tijdkring - Space 1999
SPACE, a word filled with space, a phenomenon with almost limitless possibilities. Long lanes with associative footpaths stretch out from the multi-faceted SPACE. For some a scientific concept, both Euclidic as well as multi-dimensional, for others a strictly astronomical phenomenon. And some others, well, they just can’t get enough of it.
And then we have the Arts.
Since the immemorial the Arts have had spacious ambitions. Ever since that moment in fifteenth-century Italy when, with a shriek of excitement, the pivotal perspective was discovered, the visual arts became filled with boundless ambition to both reflect and conquer (virtual) space. However, it is music which plays an even greater role in the abstract domain of time and space, while dance is of course a fortiori a spacious, three-dimensional means of artistic expression. SPACE does not discriminate between the one and the other; space assimilates, integrates, and absorbs. Hic et ubique.
SPACE, in this meaningful malleability, in its omnipresence, constituties a variegated festival theme. LOOS SPACE may then also be seen as a pageant for the possibilities, ambitions and spheres of activity of the group LOOS.
In that grey area between improvised and composed music, LOOS has already been functioning for years as an audio-technological laboratory serving composers whose pieces are tailor-made for the musicians who belong to the ensemble. But that is only one part of the story: LOOS can blend together just as easily in the orchestra pit with other musical formations to perform such works as Rose, a Horse Drama, the opera by Louis Andriessen and Peter Greenway; or Noach, by Guus Janssen and Friso Haverkamp.
The ensemble has also forged a close and fruitful partnership with makers of experimental threatre (Hollandia, Toneelgroep Amsterdam), and dance production leaders (Karin Post), while those members involved at the fringes of the project sometimes also function as organisers of small-scale, internationally-oriented festivals, among which LOOS SPACE.
LOOS emerges through this variety of activities as the nucleus of production, which is able, in accordance with whatever circumstances demand, to appear in both larger or smaller formats, decked our in theatrical costumes or whatever is required.
Razor-sharp surges of current, caught up in capricious lines of resonance, wend their grinding, squealing way between perfectly timed and seemingly deeply-thought out chords, which rise in deafening silences like pillars. These silences form a substantial component of the music produced by LOOS. The appearance of having been well thought-out is illusive however: the fascinating chord pillars often come into being through a spontaneous interaction between musicians who at the same time both blindly sense, and precisely follow, one another. In this regard LOOS may be seen as representing the academy of Dutch improvisational art.
When we're looking for the best way to express something what often happens is that we produce meaningless snatches of sentences, cough midway through, interrupt each other, use ambiguous descriptions and 'incorrect' syntax, and use new expressions and corrupted meanings -and yet we still get our message across (usually, at any rate). (Douglas R. Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach: fen eeuwige gouden Band. Amsterdam 1988)
LOOS is written in capital letters. The name LOOS has nothing to do with Loosdrecht, a town in the province of Utrecht where a popular jazz festival is held each year. It also has nothing to do with Adolf Loos, the Viennese architect.
According to the group’s founder, Peter van Bergen, LOOS has to do with the excitement that music generates: ‘It’s got to do with letting go.’
It’s true to say that you’ll find the word ‘loos’ entered in the Dutch dictionary, but not the definition of the word that Van Bergen uses. It is a Germanism, which forms part of the verb losgehen: to ‘go for it’. However, the word undeniably expresses the enthusiasm which LOOS demonstrates time and time again. The contribution Van Bergen and his colleagues make to all the projects (without exception) they assist in is an injection of energy which reaches farther that any uncompromising, heard-edged, music-making.
LOOS is thus first and foremost a specific mentality, a state of mind. And that’s something that anyone who is stirred and challenged by this group cannot avoid, not even someone who writes a humble contribution in a programme. Challenging the shifting ofboundaries by storm, that’s what it’s about. Routine kills one’s spirit.
lift-off
open up
observe
set off
- Emile Wennekes
