Sound Installations | Audible/Visual balance...

[Christopher Murphy <chris@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Jamie/All,

Regarding the balance between visual and audible in sound installations.
I think this is an interesting avenue of discussion and one worth
spending some time on. It seems to me that the goal should be to strike a
balance between visual and audible, depending of course upon your
desired intention.

<Who has succeeded in producing visual accompaniments to sound/music in a
gallery space?>

I wouldn't like to say whether or not we succeeded, but I would point you
at:

http://www.fallt.com/invisiblecities/images.html

I would say that the visual element here was about as close to neutral as it
could be. While it was visually attractive, if somewhat minimal, it was
intended merely as an entry point to the audio. It certainly wasn't intended
to overwhelm it with the visual.

The Festival director, when I met her asked if we couldn't, "illustrate the
cities with images". I was quite categorical about the fact that the
illustrations should be painted with sound only as my intention was for the
invited to artists to 'paint with sound'. I was sure that pictorial
illustrations would distract from the sound and render it less important in
the overall balance.

Regarding cataloguing these types of works, it's difficult. I've been
interviewed a number of times on radio since about this piece and every time
I keep arriving at the same conclusion that the work needs to be
experienced. Having said that...

I should mention that there is a catalogue for 'Invisible Cities' which is
priced at GBP 4 + P & P (it's priced at cost, not-for-profit) and it's in an
edition of 500.

It's a 36pp catalogue packaged in guide-book form in a plastic map wallet.
It features an essay on 'Painting with Sound' (by me) and has an
introduction by the Curator of Art at Queen's University. In addition it has
useful facts about the cities featured and notes on the International Time
Zone system, researched by Angela Lorenz, Berlin. The catalogue also
features introductions and overviews on all of the pieces by the artists
themselves.

I feel like a bit of a salesman (!) pointing the above out, but I hope
some of the artists on this list included in the project will agree that it
was a useful way of recording and archiving the piece.

In case anyone is interested, please contact me off list...

Take care,

Christopher

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