By Jochem Esser
16 x 16 cm, 2023
Ceramics, aluminum, electronics

From the series Telewitte

Jochem Esser is interested in how something can be subjective and physiological at the same time. He explored this in a new series that revolves around his research into tinnitus, something he has dealt with for over ten years. He noticed that listening to white noise helps temporarily repress tinnitus and became intrigued by the neurologic explanation for this phenomenon. It turns out that the brain has a great capacity to cancel and create sounds by itself. In his new works, ceramic shapes are used as acoustic filters that modulate generated white-noise, suppressing some frequencies and amplifying others. The name of the new series is derived from a series of folk tales revolving around the ‘witte wieven’; Tele-witte. Ghostly shapes of women could be seen in the mist at night. The ghost can be seen as something that isn't there on an empirical level but is very real in a social-reality. The ceramic shape gives the white-noise a subjective identity, an acoustic ghost that can not be seen but can be heard.