Since 2007 I have performed and exhibited extensively abroad with The Paper Ensemble, especially in Japan amongst artists like Yoko Ono, John Cage, Mamoru, Francis Alys, Yukio Fujimoto, Toshi Ichiyanagi and Ken’ichi Nakagawa.

“With their project The Paper Ensemble they give the visitor the opportunity to have an aesthetic experience that would remain hidden if not presented through the work of art. They challenge the borders of what we would define as an object, an image or a (musical) sound.
They could be heard as regular sounds, or (when blowing against a sheet of the thinnest paper) not been heard at all, but by putting these sounds in a specific composition, well timed and precisely played, the sounds attain a musical and performative quality that challenges the visitor’s awareness of sound and music in general.
The Paper Ensemble catches the magic of a silent material and enlarges it in a poetic and moving way.”  (MOCA, Hiroshima, Japan)

Tanja Elstgeest 2010

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           #8

The Paper Ensemble was founded  in 2007.

Our artistic research on sound, listening, seeing, and composition, enabled us to develop a series of sculptural paper instruments and installations.
Performances of The Paper Ensemble bridge the division between sculptor and musician, resulting in a new vocabulary of movement.

#9 is an intriguing performance for one dancer, gigantic pieces of paper and several smaller musical paper sculptures. In 3 acts it reveals the musical possibilities of paper as a material, and how much there is to hear, see, and discover.

This silent panorama is my most minimal work. With the use of light and heat, it transgresses the borders between silence and sound. A true spectacle of moving shadows.

                                                   ^{Photo: Mirjana Vrbaski}