PROJECT SUMMARY
The
purpose of the trip is to bring a sound installation produced by myself
and other Mass Art students to Edinburgh, Scotland to initiate an
artistic exchange and relationship between the SIM department at Mass
Art and the media programs at the Edinburgh College of Art (part of the
University of Edinburgh). The exchange would begin in Boston with a
composition specifically produced for the installation, which would then
be installed in Edinburgh by me. I will then collaborate with and
invite the artistic community there to respond in kind with their own
interpretation for the installation, which would then be brought back
and installed in Boston. This project has three key objectives: to gain
greater exposure for and deepen the relevance of new media practices to
contemporary art and life; to initiate a long-term artistic relationship
between two significant institutions of art; to further my own work as a
sound artist and designer by necessarily involving interaction and
multi-sensory experience.
MORE DETAILS
The
installation involves hanging a room with “singing mirror†devices,
which I have designed and will construct from two-way reflective glass,
motion sensors, and programmed micro-controllers with audio speakers.
They will at first appear like common bathroom cabinet style mirrors.
Each device contains a recording
of one voice, or track, of an audio composition written specifically
for the piece.
This
composition is a collaboration between myself and the Mass Art choir, a
group spearheaded by DMI graduate student Amber Vistein. Over the
coming summer, I will be meeting with interested students to
conduct workshops in composition of a mulch-instrument piece of music
that can be easily arranged multiple ways. This approach was partially
inspired by artist Darren Solomon’s http://inbflat.net/,
which is a good example of a collaborative composition which functions
in this way, although virtually. Up to ten other
people who commit to the project will have one month to work
independently and together to finish the composition. Participation is
open to current Mass Art undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff, and
alumni who still have a significant relationship to the Mass Art
community. During this time I will also be able to finish construction
on the remaining devices.
The
devices function when viewer-listeners approach the mirrors and trigger
the sensor as they view themselves in the surface of the piece. The
objective is to allow viewer-listeners to participate in a unique
arrangement by absent performers in a hybrid experience of live event
and documentation. By seeing themselves on the surface of the devices
that control the aural dimension of the piece, the dis-embodied
performers become re-embodied by their audience. This calls particular
attention to questions of presence and absence of the body in
performance, and the relationship between an intellectual and physical
experience of a work of art. The arrangement of the music is not only
determined by the presence of an audience, but is affected by the size
of audience and the degree to which members of it work together.
WHY?
Edinburgh
is a culturally rich city. It is the home of the famous Fringe
festival, several royal and private galleries of art, and, in
particular, the Edinburgh College of Art. When the College of Art fused
with the University of Edinburgh this past summer, it came to include
literary, musical, and new media departments it had never had before.
Similarly, with the SIM program, Mass Art is one of the other few
institutions in the world where mixed and new media can be deeply
explored from a basis in the visual arts.
I
have visited the University of Edinburgh before. I have recently been in contact with
Dr. Michael Edwards, the program director of the Digital Composition and
Performance department and staff in the Sound Design department. He has
expressed strong interest in the project and allowed me to join a
closed online network of students in those departments in order to
discuss ideas.
By
fostering an exchange between Mass Art and the University of Edinburgh
specifically with new media work, this project will initiate a
potentially rich relationship between two cutting edge artistic
communities and clear a road for future collaboration, contacts, and
experimentation. Like the mirrors within the work itself, the
installation is both a self-contained piece of art and an invitation for
the viewers to reflect back.
WHAT I NEED
Travel and housing is the most expensive part of this project, but the materials for the installation equally necessitate funding. $30 is one night of lodging! $80 is one device within the installation! Every little bit helps!
ROUND TRIP TICKET BETWEEN BOSTON AND EDINBURGH (off season): ~$1125
CHEAPEST POSSIBLE ACCOMMODATION IN THE UNIVERSITY DORMS (one month) ~$900
MATERIALS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF INSTALLATION (circuits, speakers, mirrors, tools, etc) ~960
TOTAL BEFORE COST OF FOOD, ADDITIONAL EXPENSES, LABOR ETC $3000!
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Come over and solder circuits with me! But also, spread the word! Forward this to anyone you think would be interested in seeing this project happen.