Post 6...SPS...Exhibitions...crits... Semester 2

Kelly Dunlop
May 2, 2020
3 min read

Updated: May 17, 2020

My crit... Shaun Project Space

A4 size photographic print

I exhibited my metal sculpture model accompanied with the sound of the wind on a loud speaker. The approach of my installation in terms of context was to see how the sculpture accompanied with sound (sound below) would be received. I imagined the wind blowing through the tubes to create an atmospheric ambiance indoors.

Sound waves...

On a windy day, an eerie chorus which ebbs and flows with the direction of the wind, whips around creating amazing tones through the pipes.

I have used Adobe Audition and Wave pad to create the video below.

The white noise of the background has been eliminated. Incorporating the representative waveforms, a depiction of the pattern of sound pressure variation can be visualised.

Mpeg4. 37 seconds

The sculpture was placed on a tall plinth in the room.

Being a small model it needed to be central in aid to attract the viewers attention upon entering the room. The space around the sculpture was plentiful, viewer's could take in all aspects/planes of the sculpture.

In addition, an A4 print of the model was placed on the adjacent wall. This was a print of the sculpture I made as a document.

I took quite a few photographs of the sculpture to use as the basis of new work. I knew after this process I would dismantle the sculpture to reuse (or transform) the material going forward.

Overall the critique was favourable in terms of content and context. On reflection, the response to sound and sculpture had an emphasis on an overall engagement. The viewer was an active spectator, through sight and sound, creating a more immersive experience through different senses. A relation between the experiental and the picturesque.

30x10cm steel pipes, beige spray paint, glue, gorilla tape. Various size.

A4 photographic print.

Additional interest/research....

Sound sculpture (related to sound art and sound installation) is an intermedia and time based art form in which sculpture or any kind of art object produces sound, or the reverse (in the sense that sound is manipulated in such a way as to create a sculptural as opposed to temporal form or mass). Most often sound sculpture artists were primarily either visual artists or composers, not having started out directly making sound sculpture.

’The Singing Ringing Tree‘ (2006)

A wind powered sound sculpture resembling a tree set in the landscape of the Penine hill range overlooking Burnley, Lancashire,England.

The project was set up to erect a series of 21st-century landmarks, or Panopticons (structures providing a comprehensive view), across East Lancashire as symbols of the renaissance of the area.

Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, the Singing Ringing Tree is a 3-metre (10 ft) tall construction comprising pipes of galvanised steel which harness the energy of the wind to produce a slightly discordant and penetrating choral sound covering a range of several octaves. Some of the pipes are primarily structural and visual elements, while others have been cut across their width enabling the sound. The harmonic and singing qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each.