Soundscape Instrument

Gouache and perforations on paper, mechanical music box, laser-cut plywood box; box: 5″ x 5″ x 3.5″ (15 cm x 15 cm 9 cm); paper: 27.5″ x 2.75″ (70 x 6.8 cm)

LISTEN TO THE PAINTINGS

This project explores and experiments with the idea that an image has its own hidden melody, and conversely that a musical score can also carry visual meaning. Experimenting with a simple setup, I use a music box to play painted strips of paper that have been perforated according to the image.

Each painting/score is a visual and audible translation of a space that I’ve experienced directly. I take the unique features of the local landscape and translate them into images that can be listened to. I look at this as a translation project, one that reveals an unexpected synchronicity not only between visual and audible perception, but also between nature and culture. Through a cumulative process, each soundscape contributes to the meta-polyphony that nature and culture can generate at one point in space.

The work has also an interactive aspect, as visitors are invited to play them. Each strip of paper can be played in 4 different ways (forwards, backwards, forward flipped and backwards flipped) resulting in 4 unique musical pieces. Multiple visitors may find themselves interpreters in an impromptu polyphonic composition.

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