Introduction
A glance at the horizon during a visit to Watou (Belgium) in 2023 gave Werner de Valk a real
impetus. He discovered a beautiful interplay of lines among the grain, the hills, the occasional
tree or farm. The lines reminded him of a music bar, with rising and falling notes.

For De Valk, the horizon is the face of the earth. The profile. We adjust this face, intervene, give it drastic makeovers, without asking. This lead to the question: what would the horizon of Watou sound like?

“The love for this face originated when I was young: I grew up on the island Ameland,
surrounded by dunes, tides and almost always hearing the surf in the distance. I merged with my surroundings, and I’ve been looking for this ever since.”

The question compelled Werner de Valk to develop his horizonscanner: software that converts the various horizons he filmed into sound. The horizonscanner thus provides a sonic translation of the horizon. In this project, the horizon has the role of composer, transforming the lines of the horizon into sound. De Valk set up his cameras, in various places close to the village’s borders.

His work is an investigation about interfaces: between land and sky, between image and sound. The sonification is dynamic: at fog or dusk you get a different soundscape.
The state of the landscape determines how it sounds. When crops grow in front of the camera, the pitch climbs slowly, until harvest. A perfectly flat horizon gives a monotonous sound. The video installation explores how these different conditions of the horizon shape its sounds, throughout the seasons and under different weather conditions. This way, the horizon scanner invites the visitor to renegotiate their relationship with the horizon. Nothing exists that does not touch something else. De Valk wants to show just those touches. And with this work, the musical touch of the face of the earth.

Reception
This 3-channel video installation is on display