Vast is a selection of works where artist ‘t Geruis plays with the idea of sound as something that can affect the perception of time. Vast in Dutch means ‘fixed’ and in English…well, vast.
“It is especially that element of fixedness that appeals to me. Take for example a painting, an object, just something that causes a strong emotional reaction in you. Place this on the table in front of you and look at it for several minutes. Your sense of time may be long, in boredom, for example, or very short, in a strong sense of wonder. Several minutes may pass, you may experience multiple emotions, or even insights yourself, who knows, you may dream away. Your time bends. Or your ‘feeling time’ at least. That’s how I would like to see these pieces.
The specificity of sound is its linear nature, or so people often say, but I want to get away from that. I am well aware that this idea has been suggested many times. So think of this as my interpretation of this idea.
All these pieces portray some strong, and for me important images, places or ideas. As is often the case. Hoping to fix them.
I sometimes wonder if this should be called music, but I won’t go into definitions here.
In the end, my ideas don’t matter much once you press play. And at the end of it all, I wish the sounds are nice to you, give you an image or evoke a feeling and hopefully we’ll meet there.”
—’t Geruis
There is an uncertain sense of stasis and crepuscule in this pieces. Suspended in the slow molasses of time. One might say autumnal. For those who love the sounds of Zoviet France, William Basinski, Caretaker, Emra Grid, and Pinkcourtesyphone or percussion-less pieces of Seefeel.
