Even before I went to the SAT’s espaceSONO::AUDIO.LAB[*], I had a conversation with a friend about how pretentious the exhibit sounded. He was right. Unfortunately unspectacular, neither the sound clips nor the setting left a great impression on me.
That’s not to say that there weren’t any noteworthy sound-installations. Many of the pieces hit me on an emotional level, some were simply entertaining, while other left me cold. In particular, I enjoyed a number of FISHEAD’s music remixes, as well as the beautiful pieces done by ERUPTION. Anna Friz made an interesting statement about the state of radio at the moment, but didn’t profoundly alter my perception of sound, while Katarina Zdjelar[†] hit me in the pit of my stomach so far as emotions go, but didn’t do anything with her medium that she couldn’t have done in a text-based work. I won’t mention the names of the artists who seemed to think that nine-minute clips of static or drilling would somehow be interesting, but then again, maybe I’m just not into sound.
The one piece that I did find myself entirely absorbed in, which was surprising as it was a fifteen-minute piece, was Francisco Lopez’s Addy En El Pais De Las Frutas Y Los Chunches[‡]. A journey through a natural soundscape, this work simply transported me, and invoked emotional responses to the movement through sounds. Thundering storms, crescendos of cicadas, teeming sewers, deluges of water, scraping gravel, all blended together to create a vivid mental motion picture, more interesting and powerful than anything conjured by the other works I listened to. Perhaps it was aided by complete darkness (I was inside the black box), but then again, I think the same effect could be achieved by switching off the lights.
This is what was most strikingly pretentious about the exhibit. Their presentation was lacking. The black box was perhaps interesting, but didn’t really make me feel like I was anywhere except inside a black box. The tent didn’t recreate some sort of camping environment and the air mattresses were frankly inconvenient when someone beside you got up and disrumpled your equilibrium. I do understand that there needs to be a place for these artists to exhibit their works, but I do wonder that if perhaps these were made available to me online, I wouldn’t get more from the clips in the comfort of my own home?
[*] “La Société des arts technologiques [SAT] Society for Arts and Technology.” 17 Sep. 2007 <http://www.sat.qc.ca/event.php?id_event=954〈=en>
[†] “G A L E R I E S.N L.” 17 Sep. 2007 <http://www.artnet.nu/mnexpo.asp?exponr=29836>
[‡] Content & design by Daniele Volpin. “francisco lópez [ official website ].” 17 Sep. 2007 <http://www.franciscolopez.net/>
