Alchemy of Rest
Transformation unfolds in the quiet intervals between visible productivity. Like Napa cabbage surrendering to ancient alchemy, becoming vibrant kimchi in Korean hands or aromatic suan cai through Chinese tradition, we require periods of dormancy to evolve into our most complex, nuanced selves. Fermentation becomes both metaphor and method.
Alchemy of Rest is a work inspired by fermentation and microbial time. The work was created as part of the Access Test Kitchen Workshop, a part of Rietveld Uncut x Stedelijk Museum (2024). The workshop brought twelve artists together around a communal kitchen table, using it as a metaphor to explore accessibility from a disability-centred perspective. I responded by creating “rest stations,” an intimate, sheltered sonic environment where visitors could withdraw, lie down, and listen.
Under the table, the soundscape and an accompanying book of meditations offered a quiet alternate space. Each meditation linked a step in the cabbage preparation process, washing, cutting, salting, massaging, to states of rest and transformation. Through the work, visitors were encouraged to feel, engaging their bodies with the subtle shifts of the sonic space.
Alchemy of Rest is a work inspired by fermentation and microbial time. The work was created as part of the Access Test Kitchen Workshop, a part of Rietveld Uncut x Stedelijk Museum (2024). The workshop brought twelve artists together around a communal kitchen table, using it as a metaphor to explore accessibility from a disability-centred perspective. I responded by creating “rest stations,” an intimate, sheltered sonic environment where visitors could withdraw, lie down, and listen.
Under the table, the soundscape and an accompanying book of meditations offered a quiet alternate space. Each meditation linked a step in the cabbage preparation process, washing, cutting, salting, massaging, to states of rest and transformation. Through the work, visitors were encouraged to feel, engaging their bodies with the subtle shifts of the sonic space.
The sound piece was built from recordings of Napa cabbage preparation: tearing, chopping, salting, squeezing. The sounds start distinct and crisp but gradually blur together, overlapping, intensifying, and morphing, evoking the transformation of fermentation.
Support: Jorn van Dijk (soundscape) and Rick Haring (recording)
Access Test Kitchen collaborators: Staci Bu Shea, Mira Thompson, Kelvin Dijk, Kalli Ioumpa, and KIEM.
Access Test Kitchen collaborators: Staci Bu Shea, Mira Thompson, Kelvin Dijk, Kalli Ioumpa, and KIEM.