Sources of Sound
The central piece to “Sources of Sound” is a floating mass that congregates plastic canisters differing in color, shape and size.
From a distance, the canisters appear as a connected formation constantly set in motion. This formation changes due to external conditions like wind and waves. The formation, however, is constantly bound together appearing as a flexible, yet connected mass.
Another central piece to “Sources of Sound” is its acoustics, which complements the visual component of the sculpture. A specified amount of canisters serve as the main points of auditory distribution within the overall arrangement. Sounds will appear as if they’re jumping across these specified canisters. From a distance it will seem as if there is one aggregate sound coming from the mass; however, this impression changes with increasing closeness, appearing to the observer as if the auditory impulses are bouncing back and forth across the installation.
Decisive for the choice of location here is the implementation of the different perceptions of distance regarding the sculpture: visible from afar with the possibility of a relative approach to perceive the sound movements and the proximity of a busy urban highway whose noise emission audibly dominates the park.
In addition to the vibrating field of sound the floating canisters, all other auditory impulses that happen to exist on site together with the sound sculpture, determine the overall auditory image. My concept examines the interaction between the interested and alert ear of the observer and the incidental and often unheard noises around them. The concept explores sounds that are simultaneous and coexistent. The omnipresent noise of the highway, partly surrounding the park, is becoming an active part of the acoustic image. This correlation is compsitory, since everything reaching the ear is being perceived as a whole in an unexpected way. It is being experienced as a temporal dialogue of different sources.
For me, the aesthetic appeal of plastic canisters is to confront the purely functional interpretation as industrial products or even as an image of environmental pollution with the artistic treatment as a material with the help of sound. I am also interested in the changing perception of visually familiar objects when they are used as bodies of sound and convey surprisingly new possibilities of interpretation. This integration and transformation of everyday reality under the conditions of auditory and visual reception then sustainably determines the moment and the atmosphere of the place.
Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen, Hannover 2016
24-channel composition, electronical equipment, 250 industrial plastic canisters in different forms and sizes, 24 canisters as resonators with “Piezo” speakers, cable.