Sound Installations / Proposal

In selecting examples of sonic installations, I thought back to the very first examples of sound art that I had seen; two pieces created by Céleste Boursier. Mougenot in The Curve was what my mind instantly went to when reading this assignment. Boursier created a sonic aviary where forty zebra finches became the musicians for the installation. The aviary was a prepared room where electric guitars, bass guitars, and cymbals become the finches’ area to settle, provided with seeds and water. Here, they are allowed to go about their routine while also plucking bass strings and shredding on the guitar. The simplicity of this piece is what resonated with me the most, the line between nature and industry. The idea itself seems so simple but Boursier executes it so tastefully. Though it is an installation and the finches are just going about their routines, it still almost feels like a performance from the finches part.

The second piece that came to mind was another Céleste Boursier piece, clinamen. Playing with the themes of ‘incertitude and floating’, Boursier uses porcelain bowls and the company of water to emphasize these themes. Celeste has a particular minimalistic style that fascinates me with his installations, he literally creates environments. In a pool of water, hundreds of these porcelain vessels were released to collide with the ebb and flow, emitting a resonating bell sound for the duration of its’ exhibition.

From these sound installations and visiting Gallery 46, I formulated ideas to potentially inhabit the space provided. The idea I decided to developed made use of the architecture of the gallery, I essentially wanted to turn it into an instrument in my vision. Using wire, contact mics, and a pedal, my design aimed to turn the back garden wall into a giant lyre. For six-wire strings, I am still deciding between nylon, copper, or a thicker braided wire to string the wall with. The guitar-string wires I think would produce a more distinct sound, but the braided wire would be more sustainable for the duration of the exhibition. With the wall strung, I will use tape to attach the contact mics to each string and run it through the output(s). An idea I was playing with was having two outputs, one next to the installation playing the clear sound, and the other elsewhere in the gallery running through the pedal. This idea was to push the use of the area and interactivity, giving two experiences in different parts of the gallery.

Generally in sound art when I hear something, my first desire is to learn how to harness and use that sound. This installation is a physical and interactive reflection of that feeling while making use of the environment around. The visitors at the gallery would be invited to touch and play the installation.

ArtRabbit. (2010). Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at The Curve – Exhibition at Barbican Centre in London. [online] Available at: https://www.artrabbit.com/events/celeste-boursier-mougenot-at-the-curve [Accessed 3 Oct. 2021].

Brewer, Kirstie. “Céleste Boursier-Mougenot in the Curve Gallery at the Barbican.” Culture24, 3 Oct. 2021, https://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art78570.

Zimbodo, T. (n.d.). Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. [online] SFMOMA. Available at: https://www.sfmoma.org/read/celeste-boursier-mougenot/.