How can sound put you in the mood for an exhibition? In the exhibition ‘Ook Romantiek’ (Romantic, too) at the Groninger Museum — full of design, fashion and photography — intuition, experience and emotions are paramount. Two rooms, at the beginning and the end, were therefore fitted with a soundscape: one dark and one relaxing. We spoke to musician-artist Richard Bolhuis (b. 1977), creator of the dark soundscape, about how his music is created.
During my first meeting with Richard Bolhuis, I immediately got a glimpse behind the scenes: his installation in the otherwise pitch-dark first room of ‘Ook Romantiek’ was too mild, according to him. Quickly something was pushed to the side and I stood with my phone's flashlight out while the soundscape came to life around me. Bolhuis: ‘To me, a soundscape has something physical. It was suggested “wouldn't you want to do it with headphones?” but then it becomes such a... thing. Then you also lose the autonomous power of the physical.’ The soundscape is indeed overwhelming. When turned up by Bolhuis, it comes into its own in the dark setting. ‘If you look at a painting and you don't like it, you walk on. But when you listen to an intense soundscape that is wrenching, it becomes a different experience.’
EVERYTHING BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND NOISE
The music Bolhuis makes cannot be placed into one category: ‘A genre is not important to me. I can say I made an album of soundscapes, but under which genre those soundscapes fall is of no interest to me. I would say anything between classical and noise. The broadest spectrum imaginable.’ The soundscape used in the exhibition is on the album (yet to be released) Underground Bliss.
In addition to music, Bolhuis also makes installations, drawings and films. He is versatile in this too: ‘I don't focus on my drawings or my music or my films. They are one and the same. Everything’s in there: my fear’s in there, my doubt’s in there — but definitely my euphoria and love as well.’ Bolhuis compares his artistic process to being in love: ‘It touches on so many emotions that at some point I don't realise what's happening either. But I think I also have to be a little bit in love to create things. To make music at all or create images. To actually make autonomous work and live autonomously, that seems like an endless adventure for me sometimes.’
INTO THE STUDIO WITHOUT AN IDEA
Not very surprisingly, the album that contains the soundscape Twilight Bliss was also created that way: ‘For the upcoming album Underground Bliss, I intended to go into the studio without an idea. Strangely enough, that is one of the hardest things to do: working without an idea and completely from scratch. But for me, it often works. I often experience my music as euphoric, but it is often seen as dark music. There are underlying layers that I am not aware of during the process. Then I am the music, so to speak.’
‘Ook Romantiek’ will be on display at the Groninger Museum until 2 April 2018. Stand in the dark room where the exhibition begins and listen: the soundscape carries you along, wrenching about a bit, setting a nice mood for viewing the rest of the works.