Through the Motions is an intimate, immersive sound and video installation exploring human engagement with Earth and nature. Through the use of pure tuning of ‘just intonation’, a practice that looks at the innate natural physics of sound, Maddie Ashman has created a space where one
can reconnect with our instinctive human connection to nature, in a society where our senses are overwhelmed by human invention and technology.

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Since the Industrial Revolution, we have rejected nature’s existing sound-principles for equal temperament, the 12-note musical structure we have learnt to accept. Convenient as it is for mass manufacturing instruments and practicality, it reflects

the tragic colonialism over non-Western cultures, whose music traditions cannot fit into Western standards. In Maddie Ashman’s music, Westernized equal temperament and language are deconstructed, asking what is possible by looking at our ancient foundations, and how we need to do so more than ever.

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The installation features songs of purely- tuned microtonal guitar and voice and is accompanied by a 3 screen film piece by Clemente Lohr. The film draws parallels between how we as humans harvest natural resources and exploit or trample them, with what we consider pragmatic and efficient.