Leonie Brandner
My Eyes Are My Eyes
‘My Ears Are My Eyes’ is an elaboration on how we shape our world through listening, sleeping and storytelling, told through the story of one flower blossoming at night – The Evening Primrose. It is a multisensory installation in the form of a night garden. There is the sound of crickets and the subtle scent of Evening Primroses, while a spotlight travels slowly over the installation.
The Evening Primrose is known under many names: Evening Star, Sundrop, Suncup, Night Candle, Lunar Herb, Fever Plant or King’s Cureall. In French among its common name ‘Onagre’ the flower is called ‘fleur du adhan’ – flower of Adhan. Adhan is the Islamic call for prayer. The word Adhan stems from adhina, meaning to ‘listen’, ‘hear’ or simply ‘ear’. The Evening Primrose or Fleur du Adhan listens too. It listens to specific sounds. Studies have shown that in the soundscape of the night, the yellow petals of the flower can filter out and ‘hear’ the flutter of moth wings. When the flower loses its yellow petals, it can no longer detect the presence of moths.
The piece was nominated for the Master Studio Practice Award
2021
dimension variable
Paper Flowers, Evening Primrose Seedlings, GrowingLights,
Ceramic, Singing
Exhibition:
Graduation Show, KABK, Den Haag, 2021
Auswahl 21, Aargauer Kunstmuseum, Aarau, 2021
Woven in Vegetal Fabrics - On Plant Becoming, Casino Luxembourg, 2022
photo: Alex Spichale, Nola Visuals, Sven Becker
As part of ‘My Ears Are My Eyes’ I have written several poems for the Evening Primrose. I have used one of these poems as a foundation for a choral piece I wrote in collaboration with Nina Guo. The audio was played for the first time in the Auswahl 21 and the piece was performed live inside my installation by the choir Jubilate Musica under the direction of Nicollas Billaux as part of the exhibition ‘Woven In Vegetal Fabrics – On Plant Becoming’ at the Casino Display in Luxembourg.
