I looked into different sound installations to give me more context on the subject. Also, what is possible. How does each sound installation use its idea and space to engage with the audience?
The first one I chose was Other Registers – The Sound and Silence of Police Violence in Rio de Janeiro.
I chose this sound installation as its made by Brazilian sound artists. I wanted to see what non-western artists are doing with sound installations.
The description reads.
“Visitors are invited to listen to official statistics for citizen and police deaths in the city between October 2009 (when Rio was selected to host the Olympics), and January 2016 (the start of the Olympic year), played as sound via a circle of eight loudspeakers.
Police violence is a long-standing issue in Rio, but the high numbers of killings often provoke surprisingly little public reaction. ‘Other Registers’ aims to create awareness of this issue through a physical and aesthetic experience.”
I managed to find a video showcasing the Sydney experience.
I found the idea a good reflection of Brazils hypocrisy with the past and current government. The darkroom makes the audience engage differently than when lit, it encourages the first person audience member to use their ears. The space transforms with the eight speakers forming an octophonic ring, it seems immersive. I can only assume the lasers which form a pattern communicate and allow for the audience member to know where to stand and move around the space. This idea of showing the audience member where to go and guiding them without words seems a good way of communicating.
The second sound installation was JAY-Z – Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film.
I’m not a huge JAY-Z fan but when researching hip hop in a gallery context this was the first that appeared and it surprised me. I’d never seen this before. JAY-Z after releasing his album titled Magna Carta… Holy Grail. Decided to shoot a music video inspired by Marina Abramović’s piece “The Artist Is Present”.
In this piece, Marina Abramović sits in silence in front of a public member and gives her undivided time for 6 hours throughout the day. This went viral due to her ex-husband approaching and her beginning to cry and reach out for his hand after sitting in silence and looking each other in the eyes for a few minutes. JAY-Z uses this in his own context and asked Marina permission to use her idea for his music video.
The concept of this was to take what Marina previously did but with his song Picasso Baby. He wanted to rap for six hours straight the lyrics of the song. The lyrics speak about being an artist and a modern-day Picasso amongst his peers and city. JAY-Z relates his work to art and says hip hop is a brother to the art world and is no different.
He speaks about the difference between a large concert, how the energy comes to him. And on that day he said it’s an exchange. Somewhere to drop it off. He invited people to sit down in front of him while he performs his lyrics over and over again for six hours. This exchange between audience members and performer is interesting. Some sit and admire others get up and dance. The space allows JAY-Z to be more intimate. I felt like the sound of his rap and instrumental sculpted the space. He took it from a room full of people to everyone engaging and a transfer of energies. The fact that everyone was so close to each other allowed for a different experience than a concert. I enjoyed this because it showed the importance of crowd engagement in specific contexts. The room and his proximity allowed this to work. He made himself the art. He speaks about rap being thinking out loud, the bravados the insecurities for the world to see. Giving a glimpse of who you are. As a rapper this does speak volumes to me, I find myself using my art to showcase my identity and how I engage and stamp myself on the world. This has given me ideas about how to use performance in a gallery context as a rapper. To use the skills I have and use the space to create something that isn’t physically present. The energy between crowds. The artist is the piece in the gallery. JAY-Z is the artwork, not a soundscape playing not a painting but he is the living embodied artwork.
The third installation is Max Neuhaus’ “Times Square”.
I chose this installation due to the location and how Max uses his installation to interact with his environment. Times Square is a sound installation that Max Neuhaus installed in 1977 under a vent for the new york metro system. The installation is a set of speakers playing a low hum. Similar to the end tone of a bell. This installation is unmarked and out of sight, in the centre of one of the busiest places in the world. This installation interests me due to its location and message. The use of space and interaction with an audience. The fact that the installation is unmarked poses an interesting philosophical question, wether art sometimes can be noticed if no one gives us the message that its there. Would we walk past someones work in a gallery if it wasn’t labelled? And if so what benefits can that offer a sound artist if he presents it as so. A secret work amongst everyone else’s. How would this work at gallery 46 If there was a secret sound installation?I Also enjoyed his use of space with the Times Square installation, he managed to create a non subjective listening experience amongst this busy city, for the ordinary person. The listener who decides to stay and see where the noise is coming from and engage with the installation. This has made me think about hiding the source of the sound and how this makes the first person engager experience the sound installation. How can I include this into my work, or take into consideration the importance of vision. If someone sees a speaker they act differently to if its hidden. I want to experiment with this.
The fourth sound installation is by TradeMark. For the Burning Man festival.
He was commissioned in 2007 to create the main sound installation directly underneath the burning man. In the setting of a zen garden. TradeMark responded with a week long soundtrack using the sounds of nature and us army missiles. The piece used the harmonic properties of us army missiles resonating as part of the installation. It gave a similar sound to a singing bowl. When creating the installtion TradeMark thought about what sonic properties a zen garden would have. What stood out to him was the sonic landscape of Burning Man. It’s in the middle of a dessert with fifty thousand people crammed into a small section. And the absesnse of sound in a desert, that you barely hear any animals. The only animals you hear during burning man is humans.
The soundtrack is nineteen different audio scenes controlled with Maximus P. The audio scenes are associated with each other as nature isn’t random it has a structure despite being chaotic. He coded so that the computer knows what to play after each scene. If there is rain, it can fade into a thunderstorm or into something else that makes sense. He also researched the animals normal found in the area and used those as well in the coding. And relate to the time of day. Animals are appropriate to the time of day. Frogs and cayotese at night for example and birds in the morning. The computer knows when to play the right sounds due to being synced to a clock. The computer becomes a fake soundscape that emulates a real working desert. The sound installation runs 24hrs a day for a straight week. And once these rules have been coded and implemented the computers knows which sounds to pick from and how the audio scenes blend together to create a sonic environment for the festival goers to enjoy.
I really enjoyed this sound installation. It reminds of the ideas discussed this morning with Milo and Inaki. With randomness not being a real thing amongst nature. I enjoy how this practitioner has used the computer as the brain of what to play amongst the scenes of audio. It adapts through the week and time, creating a more refreshing experience for the audience member that interacts with the sound installtion. Something ever changing and not static, that moves with time and space.
I think overall based on these four installations I have been shown different approaches. The way to use space to create a specific interaction with the audience member. Despite some of these installations not being in a white room inside I can still take some lessons from these installations. I want to create something interactive and really think about what the space offers in a gallery. I think the different between sound installtion and sound work or piece is the relationship it has with the space and listner. Sound installations allow for a different relationship that the space offers. The placement, the intent, the signposting. The design of how interactive your piece is and also how continues and ever growing it can become, for example how the Burning Man instalation was.
I’m also curious about how JAY-Z used his performance aspect, performance is something I’ve done from a very young age interacting in freestyle circles. I’ve been thinking about identity in my own sonic landscape and how I can show that within a gallery space. I’ll be doing some ideas and sketches and will keep my blog updated on my thoughts.