Resonant Bodies
The medium in which any information is transmitted will degrade the signal through its own physical properties.
The presence of bodies within a space will change the acoustic and electromagnetic resonance of existing systems within that space.
Inhabited spaces are full of physical traces of memories left behind which, in some cases, will outlive those who left them there.
Each time a memory is recalled it is erased and rewritten, often with errors.
This show explores connections between memory, information, material, and impermanence.
Resonant Bodies was my final show as an undergrad at Bennington College. This show was installed in the basement of the infamous Jennings building (the inspiration for Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House) from December 1-7 2023
The audio for this show was created in situ for this installation.
Drones were created by affixing large, high power, low-frequency transducers to bodies and structures within the space (heating oil tanks, crates, etc.) and then driving them near or at their resonant frequencies. By choosing structures that resonate at specific relative intervals and using them in concert with one another, I crafted a unique and powerful soundscape that is completely unique to that space. This audio output was also sent to a floating transducer in a flooded room, producing cymatic waves on the surface allowing for a visual representation of the audible experience.
A reel to reel magnetic tape recorder driving a large tape loop was also installed, circumscribing the largest fluorescent sculpture. Onto this loop several tracks were recorded and played back through custom loudspeakers installed in the room.
Two of these were samples from different stages of The Caretaker’s Everywhere at the End of Time, a series of albums meant to portray the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Accompanying these recordings on the same loop is a 60hz tone that has been attenuated by my body. During installation of the sculpture I discovered that the fluorescent ballasts driving the lamps were leaking roughly 50v ac through their cases to ground. I was able to pass this voltage across by body, and into a cable long enough to record a full loop.
After recording the loop was run around the energized fluorescent lamps for several hours to degrade the magnetic information on the loop. Over the run of the show the information on the tape would continue to corrupt, by the end much of the detail and clarity in the recording had been lost.
