clay breath

“The process of dried clay disolving in water”

In this project the clay itself is the musician, creating sound by “breathing”. The air trapped in the dried clay escapes towards the surface of the water, and it’s fascinating how it constantly produces different sounds. The process is unpredictable and it lives its own life. The temporality of this work appeals to me, the clay melts in the water, decays, vanishes, dissolves. I wants to invite people to listen to the breath of clay.

This project has been supported by:
2022 – Instruments Inventors Research residency: creating Clay Breath tubes
2023 – Nieuwe Microkredietmaker from Stichting Rizoom: creating Clay Breath Bodies
2024 – StrandLAB residency: creating Clay Breath listening experience using clay from the surrounding area.

Since 2020, Gemma has been researching the sound of various kinds of clay, different shapes and diverse ways of presenting Clay Breath. Creating sound sculptures and performances:

Clay Breath Bodies:

*Clay Breath Body, exposition Klangkörper Museum Heidenheim 2024*

Clay Breath Bodies, graduation show 2024

Clay Breath listening experience:

During my residency at StrandLab Almere, I searched for local clay. What does this clay sound like? What does it tell us when it comes in contact with water?
The process: searching for clay, finding it, collecting it, preparing it, shaping it, letting it dry, listening to ‘Clay Breath’ and returning the clay to the place where I found it.
The shape: Together with the clay, gravity and timing of the whole process I came to a roundish shape with a hole in it where you can place your ear to listen.
The listening experience: feeling the clay under your feet, feeling the clay drying, closing and opening ears, hearing clay becoming wet. The performance started with the following text:

Hi dear listener,

Take a step forward and feel me under your feet
I am clay found on that island
I am clay found 6 km from here
I am clay found around the corner

100 years ago, I was the bottom of the Zuiderzee
now I am the ground of South Flevoland
where vegetables, flowers, humans grow

you are seeing me dissolving in water
you will feel me becoming dry
and you will hear me becoming wet

open all your senses
everything is part of a communal composition

After the performance, someone from the audience asked:
“The air we are listening to—when did it enter the clay?”