Language of Resonance
8.11.23 - 11.11.23
Opening: 8 November 6-8pm | Live performance: 8 November 7:15pm
Queensland University of Technology Z12 Studios, Kelvin Grove 4059
Language of Resonance is an installation apart of group exhibition, 2023 inFORM: QUT Visual Arts Graduate Exhibition. It is an accumulation of forms of sound manipulated from field recordings of movement that occurs on the surface of the Earth and in its waters. In the installation, an audio loop of different bodies of water, recorded from within a waterfall, the ocean, a creek stream, and a water tank, resonate through water in a steel bowl. Vibrations from these recordings conjure unique ripples in the water corresponding to the sound’s frequency, a phenomenon known as cymatics. Using water and a steel bowl as sound conductors, changes the tone of sound that resonates through them. As a result, the soundscape installation has a shimmering and metallic quality that reverberates around the space.
On the adjacent wall behind the bowl, a canvas holds soil that’s been dispersed by vibrations. Echoing the water ripples moving in the bowl, the canvas is dusted with images of topographic landscapes or constellations. It is an artefact of resonance, the physical record of wavelengths and frequencies of sound.
In an embodied performance, the work is activated in four phases of a ritual to invoke phantoms of sound in the water. The first three stages involve pressing contact microphones against tactile sound boards, the steel bowl, and my skin. Each medium resonates at different frequencies causing the water to vibrate in unique patterns. In the closing phase, acoustic feedback from a microphone and a speaker is orchestrated to mediate between infrasound and ultrasound waves. Sounds reminiscent of geological movement or whale calls are conducted, crescendoing the performance and signifying its close.
Audio contribution: aunty Gemona Kila
Audio technician: Connor Andree-Evarts
Special thanks: QUT visual arts cohort, Dr Rae Haynes, Dr Daniel McKewen, Sandra Selig, Dr Naomi Blacklock, Dr Charles Robb, Dr Courtney Pedersen, Dr Keith Armstrong, Asa, Steve, Sam & Ian
8.11.23 - 11.11.23
Opening: 8 November 6-8pm | Live performance: 8 November 7:15pm
Queensland University of Technology Z12 Studios, Kelvin Grove 4059
Language of Resonance is an installation apart of group exhibition, 2023 inFORM: QUT Visual Arts Graduate Exhibition. It is an accumulation of forms of sound manipulated from field recordings of movement that occurs on the surface of the Earth and in its waters. In the installation, an audio loop of different bodies of water, recorded from within a waterfall, the ocean, a creek stream, and a water tank, resonate through water in a steel bowl. Vibrations from these recordings conjure unique ripples in the water corresponding to the sound’s frequency, a phenomenon known as cymatics. Using water and a steel bowl as sound conductors, changes the tone of sound that resonates through them. As a result, the soundscape installation has a shimmering and metallic quality that reverberates around the space.
On the adjacent wall behind the bowl, a canvas holds soil that’s been dispersed by vibrations. Echoing the water ripples moving in the bowl, the canvas is dusted with images of topographic landscapes or constellations. It is an artefact of resonance, the physical record of wavelengths and frequencies of sound.
In an embodied performance, the work is activated in four phases of a ritual to invoke phantoms of sound in the water. The first three stages involve pressing contact microphones against tactile sound boards, the steel bowl, and my skin. Each medium resonates at different frequencies causing the water to vibrate in unique patterns. In the closing phase, acoustic feedback from a microphone and a speaker is orchestrated to mediate between infrasound and ultrasound waves. Sounds reminiscent of geological movement or whale calls are conducted, crescendoing the performance and signifying its close.
Audio contribution: aunty Gemona Kila
Audio technician: Connor Andree-Evarts
Special thanks: QUT visual arts cohort, Dr Rae Haynes, Dr Daniel McKewen, Sandra Selig, Dr Naomi Blacklock, Dr Charles Robb, Dr Courtney Pedersen, Dr Keith Armstrong, Asa, Steve, Sam & Ian
Exhibition view, 2023 inFORM: QUT Visual Arts Graduate Exhibition, 2023, Queensland University of Technology Z12 Studios, photo credit: Carl Warner
Language of Resonance, 2023, steel bowl, naturally dyed water, bass shaker, looped audio, soil on canvas, dimensions vary, 7:28 minutes (looped)
Language of Resonance, 2023, steel bowl, naturally dyed water, bass shaker, looped audio, soil on canvas, dimensions vary, 7:28 minutes (looped)
Language of Resonance, 2023, soil moved by sound on canvas, 150 x 120cm
Excerpts from live performance and installation, Language of Resonance, 2024, live performance, 7:27 minutes