Gonzen, uminari or retumbos. Perhaps you’ve heard these sounds? They’re known to occur all over the world and, as one might expect, humans have strained to offer various explanations for these unsettling emissions that materialise unbidden from the sky.

We like to say that we’ve understood what’s happening so that we can move on. Tidy up the loose ends and don’t scare the horses. Nothing wrong with that in good measure, but there’s something to be said for the Haudenosaunee peoples’ explanation. They pointed out that the Great Spirit hasn’t finished their work of shaping the earth and is making a fair bit of noise while they’re at it.

If you accept that many questions never truly get answered, in fact can or should never truly be answered, you may be able to tune your mind to this collection of lingering sonic detonations. If you accept that the work is ongoing, our labours seldom done, that there’s not much point talking about the end of anything, you may be ready to join us. It’s not our task to finish it, nor are we free to desist.

Written and produced by Anthony Child and Daniel Bean. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering, February 2021. Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin, April 2021

Vidya Gastaldon - Healing Painting (Sirène géante), 2016 / Oil on canvas found 80 x 63 cm
Collection: MAMCO, œuvre acquise grâce à l’Association des Amis du MAMCO. Photo: Courtesy Vidya Gastaldon & Wilde gallery