ONES – week 3 – sounds

2 women
2 voices
2 countries
2 disciplines
2 intuitions
2 rhythms
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1 installation

Miku_falling©ANNE•_2014

 

 

[02-03-2015 UK] Anne Point:

Thoughts on location 3:
Japan sounds – defined place or material sounds
UK sounds – material vs. material and their momentum

This week Miku and I seem to have almost an overload of sounds. To me my sounds almost feel too much and too little at the same time. I wonder if this has to do with the awareness we have created over the last three week on how we each interpret sounds and their possibilities in usage.

For me the excitement this week lay in the recording, but I got impatient when listening back to it. A feeling of ‘everything could work, hence nothing works or is good enough’ crossed my thoughts. Agitation over too much choice took my main focus in the conversation, leaving me with a doubtful state of mind.

The fact that we are coming to our 3d location and with that our most important location, because we went back there a second time, has gotten the overhand on the ideas and flow of it. The sounds are still really particular and unique, but because this location became such a big deal to me by filming it for a second time, there seemed to be little space left in my mind to transform it into something else.

Hence my thoughts for editing have shifted into starting with this 3d location first, rather then keeping it for last, because else the pressure to make it into something ‘good’ becomes leading instead of ‘exploring’ its possibilities and boundaries.

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[02-03-2015 Japan] Miku:

Miku’s Sound – natural recordings / created sounds / softer / malleable
Anne’s Sound – created abstract sounds / metallic / hard / dense / sharp / edgy

– Both Anne and I had very different sounds this time.
My sounds were more literal / easy to guess and more ambient than Anne’s abstract sounds. Anne’s sound were very interesting and fascinating that I couldn’t guess what it was, and it attracted my attention more. Anne’s sounds weren’t an ambient sound to me. It had characters and its own voice / statement, which I though would be an interesting layer to add on to the visual.

– When I was searching for sounds to record, I reviewed the perceptions I had that time during the filming at the location 3. The feeling of a long continuous pathway, and the feeling of looking down the hole, reminds me of a manhole on the street, where I decided to record the sound of the water, for example. The object’s presence is visually absent in the frame, however, it was present in my body. I think this searching for a sound that was present in my body (but not visually), and combining it with the visual, could expand the kinaesthetic experience for the audience.

– PRESENSE of ABSENSE / playing with visually non-related elements in sound (earth elements) could be interesting. Water vs. concrete site sounds. This can create a new effect / new imagination?

– Listening to both of our sounds, like specific site’s and its elements, affected our choice of the sounds.

I am thinking of how I could put these sounds with the film…
For instance it would be interesting to play with busy on-going sounds while the movement is slow – this could create a friction between visual and audible which could be challenging and interesting. It could expand audience’s experience.

After collecting loads of sounds together for three locations, we now need to re-select and re-consider in finalizing which sounds we’ll pic. It is very tricky I found that some of the sounds could fit more than one location.
SO, in that case, what more can I consider making my decision? Maybe I could rethink my kinaesthetic experiences (5 senses experience) at each location and see if that helps. Especially, focusing on my BODY experience / memory, could be helpful.

QUESTIONS FOR MYSELF:
How does my body feel when I listen to the sounds?
Does the sound fit my kinaesthetic experience / memory or does it conflicts?

 

What’s the point of it? – Martin Creed

Life – laughing – numbers

Triggered from reading an article about Martin Creed in Aesthetica Magazine issue 57, I hastened myself to the Hayward Gallery in London.
Almost the whole gallery is dedicated to a diverse collection of the artists work. Every room, corner, level, wall and outdoors of the gallery is used to show the many No.’s that plunge you into a different dimension of reality, were everything is seriously humoristic and relative; it all depends how you look at it. The great amount of work creates a big collage that makes the building come alive giving it a heartbeat of movement.

Seducing all your senses even before you can give permission, brought on the pulsing allure of this exhibition that had a lot in common with that of an installation. Sounds make you aware that something is going on in a different place long before you reach it. Like in a big theme park I got really excited to try everything out, noticing impatience taking a hold of me.
My attention was firstly drawn by a clicking sound (Work No. 112: Thirty-nine metronomes beating time, one at every speed, 1995-98) before I could registrar what I was seeing. Searching for its source I encountered my sense of touch by almost wanting to duck out of the way of a big iron bar swooping over my head carrying the immense neon words MOTHER (Work No. 1092, 2011). While this installation was speeding up in its circular motion, I heard a very soft hint of tones climbing up a ladder. By entering the next space it became clear to me that this sound belonged to an actual piano and his player (Work No. 736: Piano accompaniment, 2007).

Knowing now where the sound had come from I lost interest in the actual work, which let me to wonder around in the space till I was watching a pile of arranged boxes (Work No. 916, 2008) when I caught a new sound. Something, that hold the middle between a fart and a sticking out of your tongue to your rivals sound, seemed to come out of all the artworks I laid my eyes on. Upon approaching the different artworks, however, I lost the sound connection, making me move on in the search of its origin. Ending up at a small sound speaker at the bottom of a staircase where I noticed out of the corner of my eye a change in light every other minute.

This switching light led me to enter the second level of the building where indeed the light was switchinh on and off (Work No. 227: The lights going on and off, 2000) to make place for short video clips (Work No. 670: Orson & Sparky, 2007) projected largely on one side of the space. On the other side of the space a sea of broccoli (Work No. 1000: Broccoli prints, 2009-10) engulfed the wall behind glass frames. I got fascinated by the way these frames picked up the switching light as well as the reflection of MOTHER. Her reflection revealed the secret behind her white neon light as with every rotation it showed her blue, green, yellow, pink and purple colours.

Moving up the stairs to the top level I started to see every part of the building as a possible participant of the exhibition. And not soon enough I was turning around when two works men entered the building carrying a bucket and gigantic pickaxe. Was this part of the exhibition or just a happy coincidence?
Turning another corner I encountered moving curtains (Work No. 990: A curtain opening and closing, 2009) that revealed the London skyline and made me go outside to get startled by a living car (Work No. 1686, 2013).

After having entered the exciting and calming balloon room (Work No. 200: Half the air in a given space, 1998) I went down the staircase where I halted at the toilet area because I heard some distinct sniggering, probably the most reassuring sound in a toilet block! Entering the small hall space in front of the toilets I discovered the source: another sound speaker protruded form the wall between the two entrance doors of the toilets.

Arriving at the exit I had a chance to leave all my shit behind by watching people puke and poop on screen (Work No. 503, 2006) in a line carpeted square room: Home.

You need to go and see this unique exhibition in the Hayward Gallery in London extended till the 5th of May!

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