Michael
Waterman: Sound Circuit
September
8 to October 10, 2004
Guelph
artist Michael Waterman works in installation, audio art, and improvisational
performance. In the exhibition Sound
Circuit, he explored ideas of cause/effect and location/dislocation through
a kinetic sculpture rigged with photo-electric sensors.
The central part of the installation was a four-foot plexiglass disc that
rotated slowly under a spotlight. As
the disc revolved, pieces of electrical tape adhered to its surface moved in and
out of interference between the spotlight and the photo-electric sensors,
switching on and off the various sound components of the installation.
Sound Circuit produced a series of contrasting electronic and
acoustic sound waves that were triggered by motion detectors and amplified
throughout the gallery.
Waterman
has presented his work at galleries and festivals throughout North America.
He is a founding member of the audio collage ensemble Mannlicher Carcano
(created in 1998) whose members live in Los Angeles, Winnipeg, and Guelph.
Mannlicher Carcano performs live in weekly audio improvisations via
telephone conferencing and web streaming. Waterman
is a recent graduate from the Master of Fine Art program at the University of
Guelph.
Michael
Waterman: Sound Circuit
was presented with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council
for the Arts.
The
Opening Reception took place on Wednesday, September 8 at 5:30 p.m. as
part of the Guelph Jazz Festival and follows the day-long jazz colloquium.
To view the video: Sound Circuit - Click here
This video requires a QuickTime Plug-in. To get a free copy (PC or MAC), visit: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
Artist's Statement:
Sound Circuit
Sound Circuit is an installation that explores ideas of cause and effect, location and dislocation created by the interplay of sonic and visual information. The installation is based on electronic circuits both as means and as metaphor. Circuits channel energy by limiting and switching the flow of electrical current. Sound becomes the physical sign and the product of that energy. Multiple shifts in the direction, volume, and rate of electricity that drive the installation act as a metaphor for multiple shifts in perception.
Sound Circuit consists of two related networks that offer different perspectives on the relationship between abstract sounds and mechanical narratives.
Network One, WEB, is really three wall-mounted webs incorporating electronic circuits removed from 24 sound-emitting toys. Each is mounted on a small pine or plywood base with its own two-inch speaker housed within a resonating 'cabinet' fashioned out of a small length of pvc pipe. Twelve CD-sized, clear, Plexiglas discs, attached to rotisserie motors and also mounted on plywood bases, are arranged in groups of four. Each disc has a small section of black electrical tape placed on its surface and a photo-electric sensor positioned underneath to act as a trigger. At the heart of each of the three networks is an integrated circuit which enables the triggering system to interact with the playing system. As the tape on each revolving disc interferes with light on the photo-electric resistor, it triggers a relay which momentarily switches on two of the sound-emitting circuits.
The overall effect is a spatialized soundscape made up of fragmentary intermittent, yet recognizable snippets of Toys R Us/cell phone type sound samples. Locating the sound references (both as narrative echoes and as locations within the web) provides important clues to the workings of the whole network. What first appears to be an incomprehensible maze of wires and circuits can in time reveal a narrative sequence of cause and effects in which sonic and visual information are inextricably intertwined.
At the centre of Network Two, HUB, is a revolving four-foot Plexiglas disc mounted on a plywood base. Dispersed throughout the space, a variety of contraptions (fashioned from plastic tubes, wire, wood, and mechanical elements) emit sounds generated by plastic recorder mouth pieces, modulating pitched feedback, and baby monitor transmissions from one part of the space to another. The disc is close to the floor and under a spotlight. Multiple sections of black electrical tape are again arranged on the surface of the disc, and a series of four photo-electric sensors is arranged underneath the disc in a row. As the disc slowly revolves, the sections of tape move in and out of interference between the spotlight and the sensors, switching on and off the various sound components in the room.
In contrast to WEB, HUB's soundscape features the wailing of multi-directional sounds emanating from the twisting tubular forms which are suspended just above the head or at a level between ankle and thigh. Motors rev labouriously into action, only to die away with a breathless wheezing. Within HUB, the audience encounters a mechanical process drastically slowed down in an exaggerated performance of the labour of production.
The integrated networks of Sound Circuit model the circuitous round of mechanical production, detached and endlessly self-perpetuating. Yet Sound Circuit labours audibly, immersing us in evocative soundscapes.