The act of hearing the sound of spoken language forms a
fluid, sometimes fractured act of change in time. At the same time, orality and the human voice are situated in space and
thus create new places. This publication brings to the fore the performative character of the human voice and the unifying,
spatial quality of sound and presents works by the artist Ricarda Denzer from the last ten years.
The starting
point of this book is the thesis that thinking has a voice and that this voice has a body. Listening as a physical, performative
act is understood as a creative process of “becoming world,” of participating in the world. The book explores questions of
how we think, how we remember, and how we relate to the world.
- An overview of the artistic work of Ricarda
Denzer in the period 2013–2023
- Artistic practice as situated listening; experimental artistic approaches from sound
and voice studies
- With contributions by Fouad Asfour, Christa Benzer, Ricarda Denzer, Christiane Erharter, Christian
Höller, Brandon LaBelle, and Jaimini Patel
Ricarda Denzer, artist, Art and Communicative Practice,
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Christian Höller, author, springerin – Hefte für Gegenwartskunst,
Vienna
Ricarda Denzer – ganz ohr / all ears was selected as one of the 15
most beautiful books in Austria 2024.
The jury's statement:
"[Ricarda Denzer – ganz ohr / all
ears] immediately arouses curiosity. As soon as you pick up the book, you want to explore it, unpack it, examine it,
understand it. The cover entices with its use of unusual blueback paper – the reverse side of the paper used for displaying
posters – and its special folding. And indeed, the book cover transforms into a poster as soon as you unfold it.
This already illustrates the artist Ricarda Denzer's subject matter and her intention with this publication, which is to
translate the three-dimensional spatial nature of spoken language into a two-dimensional form, or rather to transcend these
boundaries through multifunctionality and a change in dimensionality. The alternating use of different types of paper also
illustrates the different sides or perceptions of language – hearing and seeing: on the one hand, blueback paper, which is
reminiscent of a soundtrack with its irregularly patterned surface and runs through the entire book, and on the other hand,
the silk-matt white coated side.
The horizontal placement of the title, the excerpt from the letter 'a' – all these
are references to the linguistic debate that follows in the book in two easily comprehensible thematic blocks – texts and
works. The 'translation' – depending on the context, the word has a different meaning and form – can be found throughout the
book.
(translated from the original German statement on the website of Die
Schönsten Bücher Österreichs)
BOOK PRESENTATION
Ricarda Denzer – ganz
ohr / all ears was presented to the public on November 23, 2023 at Blickle Kino, Belvedere 21, and – together with Bare
Bodies – Thresholding
Life (edited by Mariella Greil) and Questionology
(edited by Cordula Daus & Charlotta Ruth) on January 24, 2024, at the studio of APL – Angewandte Performance Laboratory,
University of Applied Arts Vienna.
