Reverse

Since early 2022, music composer and sound artist Sjoerd Leijten has been collaborating with theatre maker Johannes Bellinkx on Reverse.

Reverse invites you to enter the world in a different way. Looking forward makes way for looking back. Purposeful change meets the unforeseen.

Reverse compels the audience to be present in their bodies in a completely different manner. In many Eastern and African cultures, there is no concept of “past” or “future” — a principle that replaces the linear Western perception of time with simultaneity. What would our existence mean without the goal we constantly use as a measure — if past, present, and future were one and the same?

With Reverse, we toured across Europe, performing in places such as Budapest (HU), Marseille (FR), Tàrrega (ES), Detmold (DE), and Aix-en-Provence (FR). For each location, I create a new composition consisting of binaural (and non-binaural) field recordings, synthesized sounds, and acoustic instruments.