The act of hearing the
sound of spoken language forms a fluid, sometimes fractured act of change in time. At the same time, orality and the human
voice are situated in space and thus create new places. This publication brings to the fore the performative character of
the human voice and the unifying, spatial quality of sound and presents works by the artist Ricarda Denzer from the last ten
years.
The starting point of this book is the thesis that thinking has a voice and that this voice has a body.
Listening as a physical, performative act is understood as a creative process of “becoming world,” of participating in the
world. The book explores questions of how we think, how we remember, and how we relate to the world.
- An
overview of the artistic work of Ricarda Denzer in the period 2013–2023
- Artistic practice as situated listening; experimental
artistic approaches from sound and voice studies
- With contributions by Fouad Asfour, Christa Benzer, Ricarda Denzer,
Christiane Erharter, Christian Höller, Brandon LaBelle, and Jaimini Patel
Ricarda Denzer,
artist, Art and Communicative Practice, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Christian Höller, author,
springerin – Hefte für Gegenwartskunst, Vienna
Ricarda Denzer – ganz ohr / all ears was selected as
one of the 15 most beautiful books in Austria 2024.
The jury's
statement:
"[Ricarda Denzer – ganz ohr / all ears] immediately arouses curiosity. As soon as you pick
up the book, you want to explore it, unpack it, examine it, understand it. The cover entices with its use of unusual blueback
paper – the reverse side of the paper used for displaying posters – and its special folding. And indeed, the book cover transforms
into a poster as soon as you unfold it.
This already illustrates the artist Ricarda Denzer's subject matter and
her intention with this publication, which is to translate the three-dimensional spatial nature of spoken language into a
two-dimensional form, or rather to transcend these boundaries through multifunctionality and a change in dimensionality. The
alternating use of different types of paper also illustrates the different sides or perceptions of language – hearing and
seeing: on the one hand, blueback paper, which is reminiscent of a soundtrack with its irregularly patterned surface and runs
through the entire book, and on the other hand, the silk-matt white coated side.
The horizontal placement of the
title, the excerpt from the letter 'a' – all these are references to the linguistic debate that follows in the book in two
easily comprehensible thematic blocks – texts and works. The 'translation' – depending on the context, the word has a different
meaning and form – can be found throughout the book.
(translated from the original German statement on the
website of Die Schönsten Bücher Österreichs)
BOOK PRESENTATION
Ricarda Denzer – ganz ohr / all ears was presented
to the public on November 23, 2023 at Blickle Kino, Belvedere 21, and – together with Bare
Bodies – Thresholding
Life (edited by Mariella Greil) and Questionology
(edited by Cordula Daus & Charlotta Ruth) on January 24, 2024, at the studio of APL – Angewandte Performance Laboratory,
University of Applied Arts Vienna.
