Kaffe Matthews

“The Swamp that was, a bicycle opera”. A sonic journey through now and the past by sound artist Kaffe Matthews. The bicycle opera will be launched in September this year in the streets of Ghent.

Participate in this work of art

In preparation for the bicycle opera 10 unique Soundbikes will be built in the fablab under supervision of Wolf Hauptfleisch and Kurt van Houtte. Do you enjoy working with hardware, welding or electronics and are you interested in participating in this art project? Come to Dorkbot and get to know Kaffe and her project on Wednesday 1 February.

Kaffe Matthews in residence in spring 2012 to create a bicycle opera

Soundartist and musician Kaffe Matthews creates an urban soundscape for a specific neighborhood in Ghent to be discovered through riding the city on bicycles. The idea had a predecessor in ‘the Marvelo Project’ (realized in 2008 for the Folkstone Triennal). The intention is to gather sound material over the course of several weeks in march of 2012, some of it will be worked on as sound pieces, other parts will be used as they are ‘harvested’ (field recordings). This will be combined with historical material from audio archives. The music made will then be mapped to the city, so that audience via GPS linked bicycles, will be able to cycle its streets so hearing the pieces and becoming performers to the passersby. A team of 10 audio bicycles, each one an individual, will be build in timelab's fablab together with Wolfgang Hauptfleisch. They will carry two speakers, amplification and bespoke GPS system to trigger pieces at exact locations. So the city streets become the score and the visitor a performer. As they cycle the routes together, so a parallel universe will be revealed. A unique urban soundscape, revealing testimony and site specific composition, woven together as one shimmering whole. Soundartist Els Viaene will be the local partner in crime to harvest sounds.

The Swamp that was, a bicycle opera will be presented in the context of Electrified III the responsive city, a collaboration between Vooruit Arts Centre within the context of Transdigital, SMAK and timelab, linked to TRACK in 2012.

with special thanks to Het Mobiliteitsbedrijf Stad Gent and Circa

Marvelo project by Kaffe Matthews