Chasing Phantoms

Stan Wiersma

2026

Informed by the limitations of hearing loss, Chasing Phantoms presents the ongoing process of developing a listening practice under the condition of distortion. Through collaging a series of performances with the group project my imaginary friends (of which I have many), the artist aims to create spaces of radical attention through the mode of rehearsal.

The project explores what it means to play by ear, to experiment through improvisation, to make and remake in real time — allowing something fragile to exist for a moment until it breaks. In the process of recording, the group follows traces of sound that suggest a concrete music — moving through resonances, found instruments, sound objects in the midst of a web of cables where to be misunderstood becomes a methodology that resists resolution. And — like the hearing aid, the sound will carry the imprint of me.

About the artists:

Stan Wiersma is based in Amsterdam and works across sound, installation, performance and video. Drawing on improvisational practices, repetition and distortion, he explores the act of listening through hearing loss as a process of translation. In his practice, he aims to create networks of quiet attention, where the act of recording and playing back becomes a way of navigating space.