Boem BOem

Boem BOem (2016-2017) takes its name from the sound poem “Boem Paukeslag” by the great Belgian Dada poet Paul van Ostaijen. This installation serves as a visceral acoustic apparatus crafted from two robust high-speed baseball machines. These machines propel balls through the air at a speed of 150 km/h, covering a distance of 15 meters with an unyielding rhythm, ultimately striking two wooden resonating boxes. The impact of this collision sends the balls rebounding another 15 meters through the air, where they are captured by resonating catchers and reintroduced into the system.

Boem BOem shoots these streams of balls in different compositions, from rhythms composed by Vermeulen to less-defined algorithmic compositions by the machine itself. These violent yet playful compositions are fired audibly and visibly, each hit reflects and resonates with the space around the bodies of the audience.

This work was created as part of the Summer Sessions network with V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, with the generous support of the Creative Industries Fund NL. Boem BOem won the ArtScience department award at the Royal Art Academy (KABK) and was nominated for the ‘PiketKunstprijzen’ painting prize in 2017. Since then, Boem BOem has been shown in various contexts, from white cubes to media festivals like Ars Electronica and clubs including Berlin’s Berghain.

Duration performance: 15 minutes