<Part1>The Sound Installation

(Manuel Rocha Iturbide 2003)

1. INTRODUCTION Sound sculpture and sound installation belong to a relatively new interdisciplinary field, and in order to understand the main characteristics of this media, we need first to consider some important premises: 1. Sculpture and installation become expanded disciplines when sound is added to them. In this case the sound element attached could be part of the object, related with the object, or completely alien to the object. 2. When we add an element that has an alien language to the visual field, we inevitably create an x connection between the senses of our ear and our sight. . !he e"perience of the artistic visual wor# is modified completely when we use sound as an integral element, due to the generation of a new temporal perception of the space. $. !he characteristics of the place modify completely our perception of the sound element of an installation% this specific place will also determine an x context that will alter the interpretation of the wor#. &. We do not necessarily need a visual element to have a soundart wor#% an installation can be structured only with sounds. I will concentrate in this te"t on the concept of sound installation hoping to be able to understand better the language of this interesting genre, but I will also re'uire defining the concept of sound sculpture, since it represents a precedent dimensional stage needed to define an installation. !. T"# SOUND INST$%%$TION !.1 De&inition. (et us begin by defining what is an installation. In the dictionary we find )conjunction of installed things). *nd if we loo# for the definition of )installing), we discover )!o put or place something on its proper site). +y which we infer that an art installation is a conjunction of elements placed in particular locations that are chosen by the artist. ,owever, the space factor is not specific enough here and in visual arts it is important to #now if the elements of an installation may be together or separated% then, we need to loo# up for some other definitions that have been established in this field.

In the te"t -*rtistic territories for hearing and seeing), the curator and sound artist .os/ Iges 'uotes a definition of installation by the Spanish artist 0oncha .ere1: )!he installation is an e"pansion of a three2 dimensional space, with the notable difference with sculpture, that the a"es with which matter is being organi1ed are not e"clusively internal to the wor#, but also e"ternal). * wor# of art is an installation if it establishes a dialog with the surrounding space, and the installation in situ is the installation per se) 3Iges, 14445. (ater on Iges asserts: )* wor# is an installation if it establishes a dialog with the surrounding space, and the installation in situ is the installation per se, although there are installations that could be adapted to different spaces) 3Iges, 14445. ,aving covered the space element, we now need only to define what is a sound installation and again, I 'uote .os/ Iges who has reali1ed an e"cellent theoretical wor# about this concept: )Sound sculptures and sound installations are intermedia 'or(s1 and they behave li#e e"pansions of sculpture and installation). !.! Connections )et'een the sound and the *isual aspects. What are the e"isting connections between the sound and visual aspects of a sound installation6 .os/ Iges suggests two structural possibilities: 1. 2 7erceptive reality, dialectic or complementary, which has to do with a poetic statement more than with a musical one 2. 2. 2 Wor#s that present a visual part that behaves practically as an instrumental part for the fluidity of the sound discourse .

!he artist 8ic# ,iggins 3former member of the 9lu"us art movement5 created the term )intermedia) in an article written in 14:: titled Statement on intermedia. 2 * good e"ample of this point is the sound sculptures of the ;erman artist <olf .ulius, who unites spea#ers with the sculpture matter. =evertheless, he is not interested in the physical interaction of these two elements, but in the poetic discourse generated from the contact of both things, something similar to what happened with some surreal sculptures 3li#e one by .oan >iro which consist of an egg placed on a chair for e"ample5. In this case .os/ Iges 'uotes the sound installation -!he bird tree? by the ;erman artist 0hristina @ubisch. In this wor# an audio cable is placed along the wall, in such a way that the design simulates trees with branches, the audience uses headphones and wal#s forward listening to sounds from different #inds of birds.

I suggest a third structural category: . 2 * sound instrument with a sculpture 'uality, in other words, an aesthetic object with the capacity of producing sounds, either played by man, by natural elements 3rain, wind, etc5, or by a mechanical device $. * sound installation can be constituted by various elements of this #ind interacting with space&. I would li#e to go deeper on this subject and ma#e a new classification founded on how close or distant is the relationship between the sound and the object. ,ere, it becomes necessary to ma#e a division of the interactions that occur between these two different elements, obtaining then: a5 * close relationship, where the sound attached to the object was produced by it. b5 * distant relationship, where the sound added to the object doesnAt have a connection with it, e"cepting the association established in our minds. c5 *n intermediate relationship, where the sound attached was produced by the object or by a similar object, and was possibly transformed by the artist up to a certain degree where the e"isting connections would become ambiguous. Bn the other hand, there is a particular case in which sound can interact in a physical way with the object. ,ere, there will be an abstract and psychological interaction as well as a real and concrete interaction, because the sound vibrations can alter the consistency of the physical object ma#ing it move or resonate in a particular way:.

!his device could be a musical instrument because it has aesthetic 'ualities. If we place for e"ample a guitar in a gallery or museum of contemporary art, we would automatically convert it into an art object. & Sound sculptures could be conformed simply by spea#er cones or loud spea#ers, in which case they will become objects with aesthetic 'ualities. =evertheless, in this case there cannot e"ist a sound that is specifically fit to a spea#er because the spea#er reproduces an infinity of different sounds, so the only natural element of a spea#er is its vibratory effect, which posses a visually neutral aspect . : !here are various sound artists that have wor#ed with spea#er cones vibrations interacting with different #ind of materials li#e water recipients 3,iroshi Coshimura5, aluminum plates with ping pongballs and bro#en glasses 3>anuel <ocha Iturbide5, sand 3;ary ,ill5, etc. In most of this cases we are dealing with sound2#inetic e"periments, but in some others the effects produced by these interactions have to do more with a poetic effect resulting from the contact between sound and matter. !his is the case of <olf .ulius sound sculptures 'uoted before

+. P%$C# $ND CONT#,T (ets tal# now about the importance of the place and conte"t of the sound installation. * common place for an installation is an artistic space, that is, a gallery or a museum. Cet, we can contemplate the possibility of placing sounds in a public space that has nothing to do with art. In this case, the sounds introduced will change the perception of that place in the same way that the music specifically designed for supermar#ets or waiting rooms 3better #nown as musak) changes our mood while being at those placesD. Some artists li#e >a" =euhaus have wor#ed in public spaces li#e par#s, and have disposed loudspea#ers in trees with the purpose of altering the mood of people passing by, in order to establish a new perception of the place by way of sound. Spea#ing about change of conte"t, I can refer to the sound wor# Li ne d!abandon before mentioned. !he first presentation of this wor# dealing with the screeching sounds of a car wheel was in a galleryE% later on, I presented this wor# in a four floor underground public par#ing lot at the "orld #rade $enter in ;uadalajara, during the 9I!*0 art fair in 144:. In this second presentation, the screeching wheel sound traveled with more liberty through the huge space of the par#ing lot, obtaining also a clearer relationship between the ambiguities of the screeching transformed sounds and their locomotive origin.

<Part !>Turnin- space into place

20(2)

($arsten %eiferth&'bout %ound Installation 'rt

In my understanding, the term sound art primarily covers sound installations and sound sculptures that can be e"perienced in a uni'ue physical space that cannot simply be replaced. )%ound is a medium of representation and a medium of perception at the same time*, writes 0laudia !ittel in the sonambiente catalogue of 2FF:, -and as such+ chan es all i,en spatial settin s and creates new spaces of perception*. GiH Space itself becomes a medium of creation, and due to an artistic engagement with it and in it, turns into a place. !his corresponds with how >a" =euhaus put it in an interview with Ilrich (ooc# in his boo# %ound "orks 3144$5: -in what I do the sound is the means of creating the wor#, the means of transforming the space into place? GiiH Bf course, space as a fundamental category of an artistic wor# is not new in art history, and, ever since the >iddle *ges, has played a central role in music as well. In the installation genre, however, it is the relation between the artwor# and the space that is essential. *s early as 14&E, *llan @aprow introduced the term en,ironment for his spatial wor#s J a term he used to designate both the material surroundings of his -happenings? and any combination of objects in one or more spaces. * precondition for this development was the e"panded notion of sculpture resulting from the dissolution of the boundary between sculptural wor#s and the space surrounding them. (ater, in 14:D, 8an 9lavin came up with the term installation, applying it to his neon wor#s, in which he staged the room itself as an artwor#. Sound installations can be defined as a special category of installation art because of their distinct reference to sound and space. *ccording to Kol#er Straebel 3inMusik&-on.epte/ -lan kunst, 2FFE5, Lsound installations are determined or influenced by the acoustic properties of the spaces in which they are presented. !hey are place2 or site2specific in pic#ing out these or other architectonic dependencies as their major themes or 3...5 in referring to the historic or other cultural implications of the space ,elga de la >otte2,aber gives an apt definition of sound installation and sound sculpture. She is one of the few ;erman musicologists to intensively e"plore the phenomenon of sound art for a long time now. Single sounding objects that offer the viewer a visible material opponent can be referred to as sound sculptures. Sound sculptures can be hung in different rooms, meaning they are not necessarily dependent on a site. In contrast, the sound installation is site2specific. Sound installations normally form an arrangement or environment that

surrounds the recipient, covers him or her with sound, or only connects with the recipient when it is in motion. >aterial objects do not necessarily need to be present. Sound technical e'uipment that emits either sound synthesi1ed on the spot, or sound recordings via loudspea#ers, might need to be present. ,ybrids of sound installations and sound sculptures are installations in which numerous sound sculptures or objects are fitted together and installed in one place. GivH [i] Claudia Tittel, Das flchtige Material der bildenden Kunst, in: sonambiente berlin 2006. klang kunst sound art, ed. by Helga de la Motte-Haber et al., exhibition catalogue, Akademie der Knste Berlin, Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg 2006, p. 224-230; here p. 225. GiiH >a" =euhausMIlrich (ooc#, LInterview G>ilan, 144FHN, in: >a" =euhaus, %ound "orks, 0ant1 Kerlag Bstfildern 144$, Kol. 1, p. 1222 1 &, here p. 1 F. GiiiH Kol#er Straebel, L;eschichte und !ypologie der @langinstallationN, in: Musikkon.epte, Sonderband @lang#unst, =ovember 2FFE, edition te"tO#riti# p. 2$2$:% here p. $ . GivH ,elga de la >otte, L@lang#unst. !Pnende Bbje#te und #lingende <QumeN, (aaber 1444 30andbook of #wentieth $entury Music5, p. 4&.

Re&erences.
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2F1 . . GB=(I=RH *vailable at: http:MMwww.artesonoro.netMartesonoroglobalM!heSoundInstallation. pdf. G*ccessed 2D Bctober 2F1 H. 0arsten Seiffarth: *bout Sound Installation *rt S @unstjournalen +2post. 2F1 . 0arsten Seiffarth: *bout Sound Installation *rt S @unstjournalen +2post. GB=(I=RH *vailable at: http:MMwww.#unstjournalen.noM12TengMcarsten2seiffarth2about2 sound2installation2art. G*ccessed 2E Bctober 2F1 H.