Packaged in a Digipak with a 12-panel insert. Following a trip to Mexico City, Paul Panhuysen returned to Eindhoven with 200 jumping beans - those curious larvae-inhabited seed pods sold as toys in local markets. At Het Apollohuis, he began a series of experiments that would result in this remarkable recording. Panhuysen's practice has long incorporated living creatures alongside electronic devices: "I've worked often with animals, with birds, crickets and goats. I also use sensors, timers, solenoids, motors, galvano-meters, solar cells and oscillators to produce sounds." His approach treats both organisms and mechanisms as autonomous collaborators, introducing elements of unpredictability into the compositional process. For these recordings, 16 jumping beans were placed in 8 containers of varying materials - plastic, aluminum, wood - each fitted with piezo contact microphones fashioned from clothes-pins.
A halogen lamp provided the heat stimulus for the beans' movements. The resulting four pieces - Soundcheck, Raw Components, Mr. Bean, and Skip Hip Hop - document the intricate rhythmic patterns generated by these miniature performers. The jumping beans' erratic movements create a compelling tension between random occurrence and emergent structure, revealing what Panhuysen describes as "the qualities of universal laws and conditions that define order, structure, chance and expression in a living and changing world." This recording exemplifies Panhuysen's distinctive position within sound art - a practice driven by curiosity and systematic experimentation, where natural phenomena become musical material through careful observation and technological mediation.
Recorded at Het Apollohuis, August 1999.
Details
File under: Acoustic Phenomena
Cat. number: ACD 080116
Year: 1999
Notes:
Packaged in a Digipak with a 12-panel insert.
Recorded at Het Apollohuis, August 1999.
CD manufacturing: TAPES Rotterdam
Printing CD cover: Van der Steeg Packaging
Printing booklet: PlantijnCasparie, Breda
Edition: 1000 copies
Liner notes:
"Before leaving Mexico City I bought 200 jumping beans and immediately after our return to Eindhoven I started to experiment with them. In the past I've worked often with animals, with birds, crickets and goats. I also use sensors, timers, solenoids, motors, galvano-meters, solar cells and oscillators to produce sounds. … Jumping beans are magical living creatures. I worked with them for a couple of weeks, tried out various recording modes and different effects. The final selection on this CD is rather straightforward. There are four different pieces. For each recording I put 16 jumping beans in 8 containers. Clothes-pins glued on piezo discs were used as contact mikes on each of the containers, which were placed on a sheet of soft foam plastic. The signals on the DAT recordings were mixed on Mackie mixer 1202 ULZ. The beans were activated by a halogen lamp over the table."
1 - The beans are jumping in 8 containers, bowls and baskets made of various materials: reed, drumhead, bronze, plastic, enamelled iron, tin, aluminum and wood. The recording starts with the adjustment of the volumes of the various pick-ups.
2 - The beans are recorded in the same setting as in the previous piece. The recording is made without electronic manipulation or human intervention.
3 - The beans are recorded in the same setting as in the previous piece. In this piece I allowed myself to vary the volumes of the pick ups and the overall volume.
4 - The beans are jumping in 8 wineglasses of different shape and size. The recording is made without electronic manipulation or human intervention.
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