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| Untitled (Blue Oyster), 2018 Timber, contact microphones, transducers 184cm x 5cm x 5cm Image courtesy of Blue Oyster Art Project Space |
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| Untitled (Blue Oyster), 2018, (detail of documentary film) Image courtesy of Blue Oyster Art Project Space |
Untitled (Blue Oyster) embraced the minimalist connotations of trace, twisting composer Erik Satie’s conception of Furniture Music (properly: music for the background, that you can live alongside like furniture).
The work referenced the resonant qualities of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space, sonifying a length of timber with an array of contact speakers and microphones resulting in a quietly piercing tone of audible feedback. The pitch of this tone was related directly to the dimensions and density of the length of pine, however the timbre of this soft signal was supple, additionally affected by physical contact with the board, as well as by incidental vibrations passing though the space. The sensitivity of this work allowed it to be ‘played’ like an instrument, while it also evolved slowly over the course of the exhibition. As sonic sculpture, the work responded in relation to external sounds and atmospheric changes which ever-so-slightly affected the dimensions and density of the timber, tracing a sonic record of these events and interventions over the course of the exhibition.
The work referenced the resonant qualities of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space, sonifying a length of timber with an array of contact speakers and microphones resulting in a quietly piercing tone of audible feedback. The pitch of this tone was related directly to the dimensions and density of the length of pine, however the timbre of this soft signal was supple, additionally affected by physical contact with the board, as well as by incidental vibrations passing though the space. The sensitivity of this work allowed it to be ‘played’ like an instrument, while it also evolved slowly over the course of the exhibition. As sonic sculpture, the work responded in relation to external sounds and atmospheric changes which ever-so-slightly affected the dimensions and density of the timber, tracing a sonic record of these events and interventions over the course of the exhibition.
This work was presented at Dunedin's Blue Oyster Art Project Space as part of TRACE MUSIC, curated by Karl Leisky and Sam Longmore, in November, 2018.
For TRACE MUSIC, six contemporary sound makers from Aotearoa NZ were invited to present individual interpretations of trace in relation to their musical / theoretical / sonic / artistic practices. Taken as a whole, this survey of works explored how the notion of trace can be taken as a conceptual, abstract or literal starting point for contemporary sonic practices. Alongside this exhibition, mfmp produced a catalogue in the form of a 12” record with liner notes from the contributing artists—a series of textual reflections on where trace sits in relation to their work.
For TRACE MUSIC, six contemporary sound makers from Aotearoa NZ were invited to present individual interpretations of trace in relation to their musical / theoretical / sonic / artistic practices. Taken as a whole, this survey of works explored how the notion of trace can be taken as a conceptual, abstract or literal starting point for contemporary sonic practices. Alongside this exhibition, mfmp produced a catalogue in the form of a 12” record with liner notes from the contributing artists—a series of textual reflections on where trace sits in relation to their work.