Mirlitones by Bosch & Simons

Don’t miss this installation at the Sound Travels Festival of Sound Art.

When audiences enter the NAISA Space they will see seven to twelve white PVC pipes suspended in the air and swinging in a pendulum-like fashion. The pipes are covered at the top end with a membrane and their motions are controlled by pneumatics so that they produce low buzzing tones in the space.

Mirlitones was commissioned by DordtYart, Dordrecht, Netherlands for the exhibition Kunst Werkt, April-September 2012. The title refers to a primitive instrument that has appeared in a multitude of forms in various parts of the world. All these instruments exist of a hollow form with a membrane mounted that can be brought into vibration by blowing or singing. The best-known member of the family is the kazoo used until present times in pop music.

The point of departure for the work was the spectacular noise produced by children with minuscule plastic mirlitones in the cavalcade of the Funeral of the Sardine, the final act of the biggest fiesta in the Spanish town Murcia.

About Peter Bosch

Peter Bosch (1958) studied psychology at the Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam (1976-‘83) and thereafter studied sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (1986-‘87). Simone Simons (1961) studied at the audiovisual department of the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam (1980-‘85). Since 1997 they work and live in Valencia, Spain.