Sound installation synchronised to resonate with the risings, culminations, and settings of the sun, planets, galaxies, and star clusters in relation to the freshwater wetland at the Norval Foundation.
Photography by Michael Hall.
The artwork is linked to, and affected by, the cosmos. Using the horizon as a plinth, a computer scans the skies and activates sounds in accordance with the movement of the planets and distant galaxies; sine waves and bursts of radio static hum and buzz, following the pathways of planets. The tones react to live data: the rising of a celestial object will initiate a layer of audio, as will the setting of another object remove a layer of audio from the piece’s sonic spectrum; an unfolding, amorphous composition emerges. These sounds are transmitted through transducers which cause the artwork’s metal structure to vibrate and create resonances that filter out into the environment where the piece is installed.
The artwork’s physical presence is a metal structure serving as a vibration plate for the sounds; an audial conduit for unseen astronomical activity; a sonorous beacon. Obscured within the wetlands of the Norval Foundation, the artwork appears to be a lost piece of scientific apparatus.
At different stages over the next two years, “As yet untitled” will function as a sonic pavilion and play host to musicians, poets, philosophers, and performers who will respond and work with the sounds, timings, and atmospheric and conceptual space occasioned by the artwork.
