EVERYTHING HAPPENS IN TIME AND SPACE
Alexander Johannes Heil
THE WHALESONG PROJECT
It all begins with a building.
De Fabriek stands in Eindhoven as more than walls, more than an institution — it hums with its own archive of memories, whispers, and vibrations. In the basement, boxes of recordings, documents, and forgotten sounds wait to be awakened. Above ground, the structure itself speaks: creaking at night, resonant pipes, footsteps echoing…
CHAPTER 1
DE FABRIEK EINDHOVEN 2022
Research on Immaterial Sound Sculpture, Spatial Composition, and GEO-Located Listening
The Whalesong Project investigates sound as an immaterial, spatially distributed sculptural medium and explores how architectural spaces can act as active agents in sonic composition. The project was developed at De Fabriek Eindhoven, one of the oldest artist initiatives in the Netherlands, located in a former bookbinding factory whose architecture is marked by strong and distinctive acoustic properties.
De Fabriek consists of two main spatial conditions: a vast cellar articulated by a grid of concrete columns, and a large hall with a vaulted ceiling. The building produces a range of characteristic sound-resonances, reverberations, mechanical noises, and ambient frequencies — that are frequently discussed during exhibitions and events, yet rarely addressed as the primary material of artistic work. In The Whalesong Project, the building itself is approached as a large-scale instrument with its own agency, whose sonic output becomes both source material and compositional structure.
Based on extensive field recordings made inside De Fabriek during September and October 2022, the project translates the internal soundscape of the building into a geo-located spatial composition extending approximately two kilometers into the surrounding urban fabric of Eindhoven, reaching towards Eindhoven Central Station. The sounds are accessed through a smartphone-based geo-located audio walk, making the acoustic identity of the building perceptible beyond its physical boundaries.