Ancestral Frequencies [2025]

Ancestral Frequencies is a kinetic sound installation in which vibrations are processed into a speculative dialogue between different machinic entities. Developed specifically for the monumental interior of the Grote Kerk Alkmaar, the work examines how contemporary technological systems relate to a space historically charged with ritual sound and collective memory.

At the center of the installation hangs an alien-like robotic arm that continuously scans the acoustic environment. Equipped with sound sensors, it registers ambient noise, fragments of speech, footsteps, and lingering tonalities within the church. Its movements are elegant, as if it were exploring the space, sometimes direct, sometimes curling inward. Rather than operating as a neutral measuring device, the machine performs as a responsive entity that transforms the sounds of its surroundings.

Beneath the arm lies a circular sand surface where sound is not replayed but translated. Extracted fundamental frequencies are filtered from the data stream and activate mechanical drawing tools that inscribe patterns into the sand. These formations echo the principles of Chladni figures, where vibration materializes as geometry. Yet here the translation is deliberately reductive: only a fraction of the acoustic spectrum survives the filtering process. What remains is an abstracted trace formed between two differently behaving sand structures. Parallels can be drawn to the way sound vibrations shape landscapes.

The dataset of sound is filtered and translated into a custom-developed notation system. This minimal score is subsequently rendered as isolated tones through seven rotating hemispherical speakers positioned around the installation. The church interior becomes filled with sparse frequencies that resonate within the reverberant architecture of the space.

Inspired by symbolic references embedded in the church, the choice of seven sound sources extends beyond spatial distribution. The number carries cosmological and spiritual resonance: the seven days of creation, the seven visible celestial bodies, and the historical association between seven and the mediation of earthly and divine orders. At the same time, the triadic structure of robotic arm, sand plane, and sound spheres forms another symbolic constellation. The Holy Trinity, father, mother and child, neutron, proton and electron. Three stages of translation, three material conditions, three experiential layers.

The installation situates itself within the church as a site of ritual. For centuries, sound functioned here as a carrier of spiritual and communal meaning, from liturgical chant to the monumental tones of the Schnitgerorgel. In this context, Ancestral Frequencies introduces a speculative future ritual: a technological process attempting to comprehend a space it can never fully grasp. As with all systems of data storage and algorithmic interpretation, reduction is inevitable and information is lost.

Through the continuous cycle of listening, filtering, inscribing, and retransmitting, the installation unfolds as a landscape of echoes, not as repetition but as speculation on how the past might persist within an increasingly mediated future. The robotic arm becomes less an instrument of control and more a metaphor for an era in which knowledge is filtered through machinic perception. What remains of lived, collective experience when it is compressed into measurable data? Which translation errors silently shape our understanding of history?

Ancestral Frequencies was commissioned by the Grote Kerk Alkmaar for the solo exhibition Echoes of Eternity.

Echoes of Eternity is part of Nieuw Licht – Kunst in de Grote Kerk, an annual program in which contemporary artists are invited to develop new work in dialogue with the cultural and architectural heritage of this historic site.

Curator and Project Lead: Eliane Odding
Installation Production: Spectro Productions, Puck Wacki, Jeroen Molenaar
Photography: Rick Akkerman & courtesy of the artist
With special thanks to Eelco Ottenhof, Daan Johan, I.B.S. Rotterdam, Gert van Kleef
This exhibition was made possible with the support of the Mondriaan Fund and Victorie Fonds