Meander: Taking a River for a Walk

Karen Brummund and I have an exhibition at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center during the month of May. The show has grown out of work we’ve been making with fourth grade students at Faucett-Vestavia Elementary School. The students have created drawings that explore ways to depict invisible things such as sounds and feelings.

I built custom drawing boards to record the sounds of the students’ drawing, and I incorporated the sounds in an 18-minute audio piece, Taking a River for a Walk. The work accompanies Brummund’s video piece, Meander; a collaborative mural on the window; and selections from the students’ drawings.

Meander: Taking a River for a Walk
Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
Tuscaloosa AL

Terreno Tejido de Piel

L to R: Cecilia Borasino, Alejandra Ortiz de Zevallos, Holland Hopson, Soledad Sanchez

I’m thrilled to have been invited to work on the Terreno Tejido de Piel project that culminates tomorrow with an installation and performance at Maxwell Hall on the campus of the University of Alabama. The project is led by UA Assistant Professor of Scenic Design Soledad Sanchez Valdez with Peruvian guest artists Cecilia Borasino (choreography/dance) and Alejandra Ortiz de Zevallos (sculpture/fiber arts). I’m providing sound for the installation and performance.

Thursday November 14 2024 5-7pm
Terreno Tejido de Piel
Maxwell Hall
420 Stadium Drive
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa AL

Sleep Well, Bill Viola

I was saddened to hear that media artist Bill Viola died earlier this week.

One of the first pieces I saw of Viola’s has stuck with me. The Sleepers (1992) shows video of people sleeping. Simple enough, but the CRT monitors are on their backs in the bottoms of 55-gallon drums, submerged in water. The peaceful glow of the light from the barrels and the images of people sleeping, dreaming and breathing is contrasted by the ever present danger of electrocution and drowning. A baptism. A burial. A revelation of how separate our sleeping and waking lives really are. And a suggestion that waking up might not go as planned.

I appreciate the slow, contemplative pace of Viola’s work. His attention to sound is also notable. I wonder if–in a different universe–he might have become a sound artist with an eye for the visual rather than a media artist with an ear for sound.

Secret Noise

This is old news, but I realized I never posted about it…

The Journal of Sonic Studies has published Krzysztof Fijalkowski’s essay “Secret Noise: Marcel Duchamp and the (Un)sound Object” that references my work With Hidden Noises. The journal is open access, so no subscription needed!

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