Hear My Voice and Answer Me

Responding to the specific culture, architecture and use of the Swiss Church, the work uses the vocal act of yodelling to evoke the force of the voice without language and its powers of transcendence, communication and play.

By capturing the sound and visuals of Doreen Kutzke’s yodels in the Church, and re-presenting them in the space as recorded sound and filmed image, the work highlights the fundamental tie between voice and body; emanating from the mouth and returning back to the ear. Kutzke’s yodels have become both a trace and an echo of her existence and experience.

Attention is drawn to the power of the voice without language to transcend linguistic limitations and the body, and to reach beyond the self in order to assert the existence of the self, like a cow herder in the Swiss Mountains using his yodels and the mountains’ echoes to assert his presence. The exhibition heralds the power of yodelling, an ancient mode of vocalisation to communicate existence, to connect with other beings, and to transform physical and mental space. These ideas are brought to life through the haunting power of yodelling and the physical and spiritual resonance of the Church.

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