Nearby Lullabies

A lullaby is a moment between waking and sleeping. A way to accompany the transition from one state into another and from another into one. As gestures moving, moving gestures. The act of falling asleep. But also the moment eyelids open in the morning. Going from one (physical) place into another. Going home from a party. Getting a big breath of air after a moment of distress. These constant shifts are accompanied by crafted encounters or invitations to proximity: a lullaby.

Since 2019 Leendert Vooijce and Anouk Hoogendoorn have been researching lullabies, songs traditionally for helping someone to sleep; a gesture to accompany someone in that shift. As such, a lullaby can explore all the shifts in the world that ask for collective care, beginning as an invitation to a shared encounter. Within this project we search for shapes, moments, ways, and manners to approach this idea of transition with care.

Leendert and Anouk met in a conversation about lullabies, and later invited other artists, writers, musicians, composers and dancers to make and think along. This happened through singing, writing, sharing, rocking and documenting collected in a collective platform, Nearby Lullabies.

Website by Matisse A-M