FITTINGinSIDE

Stefan Prins
2007

For trombone, audience with headphones, walking tour (19')

Technological developments and their impact on human behaviour and thinking have long played an important role in the work of Stefan Prins. This is evident in FITTINGinSIDE, a relatively early work for trombone and soundtrack. Before entering the concert space, listeners are equipped with an mp3 player – the device responsible for the now almost iconic image of tram stops and train compartments where attendees retreat into the enclosed sonorous space of their headphones. In FITTINGinSIDE, ambient sounds merge with the soundtrack, made up of trombone sounds, which echoes through the headphones. The soundtrack puts an extra layer over reality, transforming the environment into an augmented reality (think: Pokémon Go!). Only after a few minutes, the audience is led into the auditorium, where the trombonist plays live. The soundtrack then gradually transforms into city sounds. Foreground and background are reversed, inside becomes outside and outside becomes inside. Where the concert space first intruded into the outside world, the surroundings now overflow into the hall. At the same time, the listening space is tiny, because limited to the ears of each individual listener.

Stefan Prins
Composer
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