The concept…
For the upcoming show at Gallery 46, I want to utilise covert illusions of presence within the corners of the gallery space. Sound defines the space around us and it subconsciously indicates our distance from objects. The gallery is a social setting with rules and formalities. The presence of bodies in a space in turn changes how we interact with it. With this piece, I want to subliminally imply a sense of presence where there may not be any. Based on the number of visitors in the gallery at the time, this piece will either be an obvious abstraction of the surroundings, or a more subtle, hopefully indistinguishable ghost in the room. I hope to install three transducer speakers in discreet sections of the gallery between rooms. These will most likely be entrances to rooms, stairs and corridors where naturally sounding movement would occur – shuffling sounds, footsteps and a muffled voice, or clear of the throat. These short bursts of sound would happen every 5-10 minutes. With each installation on a different loop pattern, the sounds are never perceived to have any order. If there were potentially a room with multiple installations, some kind of transducer could be place on the ceiling to imply shuffling in a room above, where there is none.
This project is drawn from and inspired by my previous research into Muzak, covert music design to increase productivity. Background Music subliminally colours our spaces to neutralise threat or distraction. In this instance background sound subliminally colours the space to distract. Jonathan Sterne talks about how vision gives us distance from objects, but sound places us in them.
The Method…
Here are some potential points of intrigue for transducer speakers within the Gallery if chosen for the installation.
The most suitable spots to be chosen would be close to power supply so power cables wouldn’t have to be run across the gallery to power the devices needed to run these installations for a whole day.
For these three miniature installations I would need:
-3 Bass Transducer Speakers (with speaker cable), 3 Raspberry Pi (with power cables) & 3 Audio Interfaces (USB cables to connect to Raspberry Pi).
-Tools for installation; Screwdriver, Hammer, Drill, Strong Double-sided tape. White Tape to cover wires.
-A Sound Devices 633, Sennheiser MKH-418 S. – The transducers are mono, so recording in mono may have better results than a stereo pair recording. But both can be experimented with in the space.
What I’d bring, TASCAM DR-40X to record the room sounds as a back up for the recording equipment. My laptop, to upload sounds to Raspberry Pi.
Challenges…
A couple of considerations I need to take into account for this piece are…
Breaking immersion from other works within the space. – This is why I would want these loops to occur very sparsely and be no more audible than the sounds of a person walking through the space.
How it sits with the other art works. If a lot of the chosen concepts are related to the Art space from a conceptual standpoint and are concerned with utilising the sound of the space. This artwork may get lost… or have less of a desired impact. I had thought of a secondary proposal that I may switch to if this concept isn’t landing within the soundscape of the other installations…
Proposal 2…
If these shuffling sounds fail to illuminate and abstract the gallery experience. There is a supernatural theme and interest in the discreet and covert that could be applied to my interest in Field Recordings. Using the transducer microphones, I could omit very subtle areas of intrigue within the space. In the same way I would be abstracting the space with the illusion of movement, I could abstract the space with the illusion of a different environment. In line with Jonathon Sterne’s theories and application of the subtleties of field recordists such as Jana Winderen. I could go by this rule of three, hiding three distinct environments into the gallery to bring attention to the plain nature of the white cube with a contrasting palette.
Technical & Conceptual Revisions upon successful proposal…
Two sound sources, playing the L & R of an often occurring ambiance within the space played through transducer speakers. The placement of these sound sources should cause the sound to not feel like it has an obvious point of origin. I.e, one hidden in the floor, one behind a wall. This collection of sound will be cut into small segments played every few minutes for a few seconds. To impose themselves subtly enough to be heard for a second, but not stay to be listened to. In this moment, the viewer will interrogate not only the piece, but the whole soundscape of the Gallery in order to distinguish a truth to the ambiance, the visitor is then tricked into a deep listening exercise. The sounds can include any sound that could be coming from outside, or inside the building. Outside: Suburban (if applicable to the space) field recordings. Inside: Sounds of movement captured within the gallery to imply another presence.
In essence, the final piece turned out to be a mixture of both of my proposals.
Artwork Description…
Abstractions, Steve Stonhold
“the act of obtaining or removing something from a source : the act of abstracting something. : a general idea or quality rather than an actual person, object, or event : an abstract idea or quality. : the state of someone who is not paying attention to what is happening or being said : an abstracted state.”
Repurposing covert ambiance, (invented by Muzak’s ‘Stimulus Progression’), Abstractions of the surrounding environment play out intermittently, challenging the visitor to discern true space. Inspired by Jonathan Sterne’s The Audible Past and by the Pauline Oliveros’ quote “Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears”, speakers are hidden in the floor and ceiling creating a presence through resonance and vibration. With periods of silence in between, the effect isn’t always supposed to be heard. As a visitor comes through the space, the sound will affect them differently and some not at all.