January 18 2012
On Location Bangkok Thailand
From: Visual Arts Studio
Breaking The Sound Barrier In The Visual Arts
Sounds like there are some important sounds to consider for Artists working in Intermedia, Installations and site specific work.
In Orser continuing 50 foot Arts Installation Document 2006 –2013, its alternating formations of 2007 to 2009 featured two distinct environments both visually and acoustically.
Orser Document presented these two distinct Artistic spaces: the interior environment of the circular enclosure and its exterior wall both bearing 125 feet of painting and providing a space for art objects and performances.
Orser presented a number of artistic evolutions of visual art, with distinct attributes in the interior envelope, in which sound combined with the various art within the interior to create an effect that is distinct from it exterior visage.
Over a period of time Orser recorded interior and exterior sounds in both sites during filming and walls colored the sounds, the enclosure and exterior free space had distinct attributes from those of the interior.
“ The exterior circumference of Document was an action environment of more or less constant movement as the viewer circumambulates the circumference in more or less in a constant manner, movement pace was faster when they were nearer in proximity to Document exterior wall. Movement around the exterior perimeter was slowed when the approach was more at a distance. The sound often appeared to be coming from behind and would be absorbed by the soft surface of Document: the nearer one stood to the exterior perimeter; the sound was more muted and seemed to be absorbed.
Definitely, the recording levels during filming were amped up if we wanted to capture sound during performances and other activities on the exterior. The interior space of Document promoted a more contemplative and quieter atmosphere within the circular confines of the interior. Performances were slower and quieter, movement distinctly slower paced. When you were on the inside, near the interior wall, sound was uncolored… in the centre of the circumference, standing, sitting or laying down, the sound was particularly directional with the ambient back ground sound appearing to come in from above.
In the interior… If some one was twenty-five feet away on a quiet moment you could hear them breathing…
The circular design characteristics of Document directed the tenor of movement and bent the sound, it shaped in part the art, the colors were more muted chromatic endogen, compared to the more vivid contrast levels and vibrant luminous value colors on the exterior walls …
This is something we have noted in Buddhist temples in Asia. The compacted earth roof of the older Tibetan temples are less convective with sound, leaving space for nuanced overtones as standing overlays, sound can be more layered with less reflected bounce back…
Newer temples using vaulted spaces and newer material applications contribute to much reflected sound… a reverb effect …
Pacing the performances of the Muses were inherently slower in the interior of Document … on the outside, sound was reflected off the surrounding and some efforts had to be made to pace movement… to slow it down during filming by the director…”
In 2009 we were filming a Nepalese master sound artist, a sound therapist, recognized for his artistry with metal ‘singing bowls’, hand bells and chimes, which we have filmed and worked with since 2009.
We filmed him in two locations in Katmandu, a courtyard enclosure in a busy and hectic urban area and in a salon in the Katmandu Guest House. We notice that there were distinct attributes to both locations.
How the metal bowls sound… had an interesting effect in the courtyard … we attracted several dozens of bird that in effect provided a counter point to the bells… at some point we moved into the salon such that we could capture the bells without the birds …
In 2012, Orser has been approached by a Canadian musician, sound artist and broad caster to accompany Orser on a trip to Nepal in late March of 2012 for the purpose of studying and recording of the singing bells; to work with the Master Nepali sound therapist in several sites… This should provide some interesting focus and a more complex complexity of sound capture with some interesting data to be realized that Orser’s will apply in current versions of Document and his other Intermedia Art and in his film work.
This will have a big impact on our studies in listening and mental states with psychological impact for training in listening, cognitive development and all its concomitant effects… we are about to apply some primary application to reinforce generative mental states by the use of sound… jmo
For Luce Canon Publishing,
W.M.X 12/16/2012
