Found sounds were recorded throughout the Fall semester on the West and East sides of downtown Grand Rapids. Additionally, this project drew on the relationship between juxtaposing public spaces——natural world and the industrial city——and how they interact with each other when presented in one unified container. "Container" might be understood as the physical space which the found sounds were ultimately presented, as well as where they were saved during the process of making. The technology used to collect the sounds and present the piece is just as important as the final work itself.
Starting in the early morning on GR's West Side at Garfield and Bridge Street, singing birds were captured by a 2-channel audio recorder. The second sound in the work——busy traffic, people passing——was a considered selection of one one of countless walks heading east on Fulton St starting at Lake Dr. and ending at US 131. The expressway as a physical barrier of space in the city reinforced the project's division of found sounds of nature and infrastructure.
Upon entering the space where the installation is running, the viewer is greeted by a condenser microphone which hangs suspended upside-down above a tall, narrow pedestal. Gestalt principles shape an interesting negative space between the surrounding space——not so empty anymore, but instead optically concrete——of the microphone and the top of the pedestal's clean, white surface. A comfortable atmosphere is happening around the viewer as birds chirp back and forth in conversation. The natural world——a free world, as many might understand it——is invited and present in the sterile, windowless space of the gallery. Here we see the instance of the container in action: digital recordings of birds are deconstructing notions of "natural" and pushed into a more artificial context. Is the sound objectified in this process? Or does one experience the singing birds as an acceptable substitution of their absence? Despite their physical absence, the sound appears to make the birds present enough. The non-physical reality becomes accessible. Furthermore, it works to begin breaking down the limitations of the gallery space. What is in fact a container——the gallery, now a terrarium of some sort——is removed by the transportive qualities of the work.
Upon entering the space where the installation is running, the viewer is greeted by a condenser microphone which hangs suspended upside-down above a tall, narrow pedestal. Gestalt principles shape an interesting negative space between the surrounding space——not so empty anymore, but instead optically concrete——of the microphone and the top of the pedestal's clean, white surface. A comfortable atmosphere is happening around the viewer as birds chirp back and forth in conversation. The natural world——a free world, as many might understand it——is invited and present in the sterile, windowless space of the gallery. Here we see the instance of the container in action: digital recordings of birds are deconstructing notions of "natural" and pushed into a more artificial context. Is the sound objectified in this process? Or does one experience the singing birds as an acceptable substitution of their absence? Despite their physical absence, the sound appears to make the birds present enough. The non-physical reality becomes accessible. Furthermore, it works to begin breaking down the limitations of the gallery space. What is in fact a container——the gallery, now a terrarium of some sort——is removed by the transportive qualities of the work.
The grammar of the interaction is quite clear. The minimal presentation and elimination of distractions in the space leaves little room for confusion. This is reinforced by the relationship of the microphone to the pedestal. That unit's bodily relationship to viewers themselves (similar in size to the body, with the mic placed at an accessible height to engage in speech) further clarifies the way one might approach the piece. Action by the user is not required, as the birds play without any input by the viewer; upon engaging with the microphone, however, the audience becomes a trigger for changing the environment.
