THE SOUND OF SPACE

The sound of space is constant to existence. We continually exist in soundspace, though largely unconscious of the phenomenon, oblivious to the infinite gradation of sound contained in the silence of spaces. Our eyes instantly comprehend a physical space while the inherent sounds offer only vague impressions, if any at all.

But the sound of every 'silent' space is unique. Though generally it is experienced at most as a vague, unexplored subjective sense, room tone, created by minute wind and thermal currents and the site's acoustic properties, is singular and mappable.

Living in Prague I became intrigued by the ephemeral but vastly different sounds of large interior spaces - cathedrals, castles, museums and train stations. I became increasingly aware of space and myself in the space. I experienced sound-space as a transformative event-place in which self-awareness and perceptions of phenomena that defined the site contrasted sharply.

detail, resonance^3

Informed by this reflexive potential of soundspace, my installations address sonic resonance in relation to light, objects, architecture and space. Room tone or object-issued sounds, as in the intimate roar of a seashell, are recorded, analyzed and stripped to principal resonant frequencies.

detail, resonance^3

This resonance is reintroduced to the place of origin as it transforms apparent sonic nothingness into the source of installation content. Inseparable source and content stream together. Reiterative sonic resonance shifts the focus to physical space. The sense of self in relation to space emerges. Self-space is reified.

The fugitive moment is source to these sonic minutiae that we ignore and relegate to passing time. These moments engender the emergence of recollection. They are the negative space of memory. They are always awash in the backdrop, the negative sound, the aural canvases that constitute the sonic framework of the various spaces of our lives. Upon these sonic frameworks we consciously hear and make 'normal' sounds.

In my installations this negative sound, the pre-existing aural canvas of a particular space, becomes a plastic sonic material, as it both references itself and seamlessly folds into itself. By returning these rarified sounds of seemingly inconsequential moments to their points of origin I seek to imply both closure and the infinite, while initiating further metaphor.

An installation becomes an indivisible, self-reflexive, art object/performance/experience -- a time machine at the intersections of sound, light, object, architecture and self -- non-existent without the space and that revealed within its silences.

For more information on soundspaces visit
Music and Vision