Soundtrack for someone who has been turned round having the bearing of one who’s going away
2012. Reel to reel tape recorder, 1/4 tape, carabiner
As documented, 12m, 2' loop
As documented, 12m, 2' loop
VISUALIZING SOUND, LABoral Art Centre, Gijón
Soundtrack for someone who has been turned round having the bearing of one who’s going away examines
the paradox created
by contrasting
sounds created when a repetitive loop, played continuously, decays to
noise moving towards silence.
Using
1/4” magnetic tape, the original material used for experiments with
tape loops, the installation creates a continually changing sound
composition.
Mechanism
A reel
to reel tape recorder plays a 1/4” tape. A metal carabiner, placed
12 metres away, is used to create a physical loop of the tape out
into the space and contributes to the continuous erosion of the tape
as it is worn away by the metal, progressively turning sound to
noise.
Recording
The
sound emanating from the tape is composed of two sections, a one
minute recording of an airplane taking off and one minute of
interval. A sine wave in C is always present, but more apparent in
the interval.
Translating
sound and noise into space
The
duration of the recording corresponds with the distance from the
machine to the carabiner, it starts in the machine and finishes in
the carabiner twelve metres away, allowing the viewer to follow
visually the duration of the sound in the space, from the reel to
reel tape recorder to the carabiner.
There
are two devices that enable the visual registration of the process,
the adhesive tape that joints the beginning and the end of the 1/4
tape, and the bandage on one of the reels of the tape recorder that
holds the discrete particles coming out from the eroded tape.
