Allard van Hoorn explores our relationship to public space and the extent to which we can claim ownership over it. In life we develop relationships to our surroundings; to the places in which we work, live, sleep, love, dream; sites of turning points and great events that develop very specific and lasting connotations. For 'Urban Songlines' he presents translations into music of three public structures and buildings. Using sound, image, video and animation, this exhibition serves as a realization of his theories and research, as well as documentation of the process. 'Urban Songlines' is a proposal to the audience: by allowing us to 'listen' to buildings rather than see them, the work seeks to change our relationship to space.
Van Hoorn encountered songlines in Australia where they are used by Aboriginals to map the land. In their tone and lyrics, a songline defines the cartography, spiritual embodiment and ownership of an area of land. By applying this to urban spaces, van Hoorn is allowing us to review the relationship we all have to the many spaces in which we exist and yet often do not own. His songlines allow the possibility of a person visiting a space they may never have physically visited.