An oblique view of Sumi_: done

Still from documentation. After one-and-a-half years of re-thinking, re-conceptualising and re-everything...

It's finished.

Tastier stuff to follow later.

Teapot Work, Sumi and Interior/Exterior updates

For the past week on bus trips to work my blackbook has been periodically filled with notes and diagrams for the creative works portfolio of the research project. It's common knowledge that when you spend an extended amount of time on a couple of works, they'll inevitably evolve, suiting a new idea or repair themselves after a stunning failure. Both the Teapot Work and Sumi_ have been in this situation for awhile.

Teapot Work:



In the case of the Teapot Work the main issue was presentation - the original idea was for a performance/installation situation that closely resembled the work that inspired it, Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting In A Room. And that was the problem really. On Saturday morning I recorded a handful of iterations for both the red and white teapots, capturing the sound of teapot and playing the recording back into the teapot four times. As an experiment I left the window open as I recorded the first and successive captures. The sound of street traffic and birdcalls found their way into the teapot, which in turn subtly articulated the resonances at play. The drone of a vacuum cleaner in the room next door created an interesting effect whilst I was recording the white teapot.

During the week when I was thinking of ways I could define this work better, I reminded myself of the association between the teapot and its cultural connotations - as a ceremonial and domestic object. I thought about its domestic meaning and decided it should be better incorporated into this context. After listening to the recordings I made on Saturday morning the action of leaving the window open to the world outside seemed like a good idea. Along with this and other sounds of the house (vacuum cleaner, conversations, radio, music) the teapot is posited in a domestic and identifiable context. I'm still to make recordings of the green (big) teapot and Lauren's heavy metal teapot, further updates soon.

Sumi:



This work has been troublesome for most of the year. Since exhibiting it in an early form about a year ago, I immediately identified some problems with it shortly after seeing it in the gallery context. The main issue was the fact that the two elements in operation (sound and image) were physically distant to each other and thus didn't make the intended perceptual relationship between the two convincing. During a discussion with Robin Minard back in April, he suggested some ways of bringing these elements closer together, but nothing seemed to stick.

In Germany last month, whilst exploring a sprawling exhibition in the Hamburger Bahnhof I settled on the best way of presenting this work. Where in the early version of the work, the loudspeaker would sit on the ground facing up towards the observer, the loudspeaker would instead be suspended and brought up to face the observer at waist height. A second loudspeaker of a smaller size would be suspended at eye level, albeit behind the print. As the work is observed the sound element would oscillate slowly between the two speakers, from the visible loudspeaker the upper hidden one. This would in the first instance, direct the observers attention to the source of the sound and a visible symbol for listening (i.e. the loudspeaker), then as the sound moved to the hidden loudspeaker, this would assimilate the sound with the detail of the print. I tested this a couple of nights ago and despite some niggles it seems to be on the right track.

Interior/Exterior:

The idea for the third and final work came rather belatedly whilst I was in Europe. Expanding on some ink drawings I've had sitting around for awhile, I decided I would use this image as a blueprint for a sculptural sound object that operates on two independent and unified states. It's difficult to explain succinctly at the moment (it is 3AM after all) but I will say it's similar to the process of Sumi_, the exception being that it's more ambitious.

Postcards from the Renewed Hive Of Activity (i.e. home)

The fine booty of speakers and cables is being put to work.

The family of matching speakers are 'tested' in cosy surroundings to the sounds of Sumi_coriole (2007) and Rolf Julius' warum grau, warum gelb, warum grun (2002).

A chilled meditative environ ensues.





More on this soon.

Sumi_matic!

Visitors who frequent this blog may have read about a work called Sumi_. I'm currently revisting it after receiving some critical feedback on it from sound artist and mentor Robin Minard. One of Minard's concerns related to some aspects of the orginal sound, specifically the fact that I'd been very naughty and used a Plogue delay bidule to 'flesh out' the overall sound texture (which is, as we all know, cheating.) So in order to reform myself and do things the proper way, I took advantage of my current Max fetish and decided to build a simple little module to mash some sound together and flesh-it-out the good old fashioned way: dry, quiet and looped.

This patch is nothing special, it just simply loops eight identical samples (each with variable playback speeds - determined by a looping preset module) which emulates a phase relation of sorts, the combined audio is then filtered using a biquad~ object and a filter graph. The raw sound? A lovely rainstick sample that came with the Max bundle. I would post an example YouTube, but my mobile phone video camera delivers no love or decent sound quality for that matter.

Though this is essentially an experiment and means of trialing some homogenous sound textures, it's a much more faithful and well-behaved step in the right direction.

Putting the 'midget' through its paces/Sumi (2)

The midget:

In a previous post I mentioned how I was developing some devices for installation purposes, in this case a micro stereo amplifier. I have since dubbed my little creation the 'midget' due to its small size and amazing carnival-size feats of power. A bit un-PC, but its not the first time a technological device has been given a rather suspect name - Big Muff anyone?

I decided to test the midget out on an installation idea in the works, you may notice that the ink rocks featured in an earlier post. In the images below I'm using the ink rocks to apply pressure to contact mics which are sitting on cardboard resonators (with card supports attached to the underside to create a small pocket of air.)


The complete set-up with the midget, ink rocks, piezos (hidden) and an audio source from my laptop (out of view.)


View of piezo sitting on the cardboard resonator.


View of underside of the cardboard resonator with supports.

Sumi:

Which leads onto the development of a second Sumi installation. Still in its conceptual infancy but interesting in terms of visual material and incorporation of audio, this Sumi is smaller in scale and uses the ink rocks which I've been using for a while. The additional visual material of exagerrated rivers and pools of ink were created simply with black textas, then photocopied and photocopied again to an overhead transparency (see bottom image.) It's still being prototyped at present, and there's a lack of audio/video documentation for an obvious reason; it's not very good yet. However, I'm very pleased with the aesthetic results thus far, and this is shaping up to be an ideal submission for an exhibition in the future.


Complete set-up for Sumi (2), [prototype].

Rolf Julius video > "Valley"

I just stumbled upon this video documentation of a series of Rolf Julius installations on a website run by the Kyoto Scientific Network. I've found the second feature 'indoor' reflects a similar aesthetic to my recent 'Sumi' work, though it could be said on a larger scale.

http://www.kyoto-gakujutsu.co.jp/showado/movie/index.html

Thoughts on the Sumi installation

Interior & surrounding space:

Last Saturday I was setting up the Sumi installation and other works at Coriole Winery in a cosy room with a window view that overlooked rolling hills to the west. It was late afternoon and still a touch below thirty degrees with a mild breeze blowing across the courtyard outside. There's always varying levels of apprehension when I enter an exhibition, installation or performance space - a small pang of panic and cold sweat when you see what you have to work with. It's always suprising how a space can be transformed with the addition of a few pictures and by moving a few things here or there. What resembled a slightly disheveled living/dining area upon my arrival had been changed into a credible space for exhibition.



Locating oneself:

I find a corner of the space to set up the work. The amplification and playback modules were discreetly hidden beneath a turn-of the-century cupboard as two sheets of paper were laid down with matching loudspeakers. The audio cables are snaked around the corner and connected to the equipment, the audio signal begins to drip out of the loudspeakers; chirps, drones and hisses fill this corner of the space. As I (im)patiently straighten out the two prints which I regrettably decided to tube-roll at the last minute, I pay close attention to the way the sound is broadcasting in the space. It's a push/pull situation as I try to decide whether to allow the sounds to be barley audible, with a perceptible hiss or click occasionally surfacing, or raise the audio levels so that an audible continuum is constantly present. I settle for the latter option as the sounds from outside (conversations, bird calls, vehicles) have the tendency to completely mask out the sounds of the work in its more discreet moments. The prints are hung and fastened to the wall and the work is successfully installed.


close-up of print detail

Reception:

When I return on Sunday evening for the exhibition launch, I discreetly adjust the sound levels trying to figure how quiet or loud it should be as a few people begin to move through the space. Throughout the evening I receive many compliments on the work and suggestions that the work could be a little louder or softer (oh well.)


close-up of print detail

It's kind of funny actually that everybody I spoke to about the work seemed to have different opinions on how loud or soft the work should be, I suppose it strengthens my motivations for deciding to sell the work so that the buyer could set it up in their home and adjust the volume level of the work however they wanted to. However the sound level of the work was perceived though, I am of the opinion that the visual component embodied the core emphasis of the work's reception. As (I observed) the ink prints on the wall were the initial focus of attention for people moving through the space, perception would then turn to what was emanating from loudspeakers on the sheets of paper.


close-up of print detail

Conclusions:

Of the many things considered following the development and initial reception of the work, the relationship between the visual and sonic elements in operation remains my primary concern. I am looking forward to developing similar works which follow this train of thought.

I think it was a successful foray into visual arts as well.

Sumi installation

My new installation work Sumi is currently being exhibited at Coriole Winery, McLaren Vale until December 9 07. It is also a partial foray into the world of visual arts. The installation consists of two works - Sumi_figurestanding and Sumi_decay. They are selling for $120 each, and $190 together. Email me at (tristanlouthrobins@gmail) for more information.

Programme note:

Sumi: contrast and harmony, expressing simple beauty and elegance.

Sumi_figurestanding and Sumi_decay are works with the intention of evoking perceptual relationships between the visual and sonic elements in operation. These elements expound surface complexities, instead using a minimalist and reductive approach as a means of drawing the spectator's perception to their inherent details.

The visual material is drawn from two prints made with stones and black ink, digitally enlarged, printed on A4 paper with an archaic dot matrix printer, then subsequently enlarged again with photocopies, and finally printed to cropped A2 heavy grade paper. The sonic material consists of two independent channels of sound constructed from noise and sinusoidal signals which have been combined, filtered and processed. The sound is projected upwards from the loudspeakers sitting on sheets of white paper.

I have made a short video documenting the work which can be viewed below. If it doesn't work, go to the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etnnw2t7R5M



Special thanks to Lauren Playfair, Edward James, The Helpmann Academy and Coriole Winery.

Helpmann Academy end-of-year dinner at Coriole Winery

Yesterday was the Helpmann Academy's end-of-year function at Coriole Winery in McLaren Vale. It was a nice causal affair with a lovely dinner, complimentary wines and a serene atmosphere. I backed up Emily McMahon on guitar for a few songs as well as launching my new installation (and first foray into the vis arts) Sumi. I took some nice photos (albeit on my phone) which you can see here.