From the sound artist:

Teniers based this painting on the parable of the rich man (Luke 16: 19–23). Lazarus, who lay starving at the rich man’s gate, died and received salvation. The rich man was sent to hell. Here, he is shown cowering at the entrance to hell, surrounded by demons and monsters.

I imagine this was a terrifying prospect at a time when people were deeply religious. Today, it appears no different to a scene from ‘The Lord of the Rings’. In my response to the painting, I wanted to bridge this gap – to create a modern sound interpretation that would evoke the work’s original context.

Sound used to be a source of mysticism, as strange inexplicable acoustics decoupled it from its physical space. I’ve attempted to achieve the same effect, a dark dissonant world full of unknown horrors.

Simon Bowden