Digital audiofile. Produced as a 12″ 180 grams black vinyl record, recto: 33rpm/45rpm audio, verso: engraving. Sewn felt sleeve, 60×60 folded poster, 30×30 inlay.
The audio on this record was made using image sonification software, translating visual input into audio.
The Compositor / Composing audio at 45rpm, 04’06”, 2020.
In the early 1960s, my grandfather acquired a piece of land, filled with young Norway spruces. The trees were left alone for decades and grew tall, transforming the land into a small family forest that eventually was inherited by my mother. However, in September 2019, all trees had died, and the forest had to be cleared. The terrain became The Plot, a gateway for ecological grief.
The preceding springs and summers came with extreme drought, while unusually mild winters saw hardly any frost. The prolonged drought weakened the trees, and the warm winters caused an unstoppable infestation of spruce bark beetles. The beetle lays its eggs in tree bark. Its larvae eat their way out, leaving behind intricate traces that resemble alien alphabets or hieroglyphs, hence its name: Ips typographus in Latin, or Letterzetter in Dutch, which translates back into English as compositor.
This is The Compositor Composing.
Audio, design & production: Alexandra Crouwers
Ips typographus font: Jeroen ‘Joebob’ Van der Ham, Den Bosch
Vinyl pressing: Dubplate, Everberg
Engraving: DLS, Antwerp
Made possible with the kind support of Kunstloc Brabant, Mondriaanfonds and Flanders State of the Art.
