Germaine Kruip: Resonance

Resonance is a temporary sculpture and series of performances by artist Germaine Kruip. It is presented in Antwerp Central Station and revisits the ongoing impact of the past through sound and space.

Resonance springs from Kruip’s vivid—and visceral—memory of the anti-Semitic terrorist attack that occurred in the Antwerp diamond trade district on the morning of October 20, 1981. At the time, the artist was 11 years old and in school, not far from the site of the explosion. With this work, Kruip makes tangible and audible the long-lasting impact of this tragedy. She also proposes a harmonic and reflective counterpoint to traumas of the past. While official history offers a narrative of political and economic failures and successes, we mustn’t forget that there is also personal memory, which produces stories often left untold or told indirectly, without words. This is how Resonance speaks.

The work consists of a five-part, 20-meter long brass horizontal structure, displayed along the balcony above the ticketing office in the station’s monumental entrance hall. When activated, the brass beams create deep reverberations, producing overtones and generating new fields of resonance that travel throughout the space. The musical sculpture is accompanied by a unique composition that will be performed by five percussionists. The first performance took place on October 20, 2021, exactly 40 years after the tragic events.

Due to the explosion the doors and stained-glass windows of the Portuguese synagogue shattered, along with storefronts and windows for blocks around, in a radius of 500 meters. It was feared that subsequent attacks would take Antwerp Central Station as their target, thus threatening to shatter the station’s striking dome and glass canopy.

With Resonance the echo of the past resounds, as does the possibility to start anew and build upon the rubble of this past. Each new layer of sound builds upon the previous one; each strike of the instrument causes a vibration that moves us.

Germaine Kruip has been developing brass works since 2017 in close collaboration with renowned instrument-maker Thein Brass. These objects, made from a unique metal alloy, exist at the intersection of the visual arts and the world of music.

Series of performances
Location: in the grand hall of Antwerp Central Station
October 20, 2021, 6pm
December 20, 2021, 6pm
February 20, 2022, 6pm
April 20, 2022, 6pm

Concept: Germaine Kruip
Composition: Germaine Kruip in collaboration with Tom De Cock
Percussionists: Tom De Cock, Elliott Harrison, Ruben Martinez Orio, Youjin Lee, Lucas Messler, Gerrit Nullens
Curator: Samuel Saelemakers
Studio and production assistant: Maxime Fauconnier

Instruments: Thein Brass
Hardware: Maison Vervloet

Resonance is presented with the generous support of Mondriaan Fund, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgium, Kunst in de Stad – Middelheim Museum, Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Inspiratum.

Commissioned by Europalia Trains & Tracks