Excercise in Transformation

Galerie de la Reine 28 Koninginnegalerij 1000 Brussels
14/06 - 23/06 2013
Transmedia graduation exhibition


We are a multi-disciplinary international group of artists who have met at Transmedia, LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. From backgrounds as diverse as biology, design, engineering, fine arts, architecture and finance, and from several countries across Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, we share a common curiosity for broad spectrums of activity and an ability to work across borders, disciplines and mediums. Be it breeding fruit flies and rats, drawing or sewing, making films or dancing, the group focuses on developing innovative forms of creative expression and communication.
The title of the exhibtion 'Excercise in Transformation' is an homage to some of our teachers/mentors. We stole it from Julien Maire's workshop, but with a spelling mistake, an extra c. C for copyleft? C for creativity? C for communication, cooperation and collaboration? [...]

visual identity
Petar Kufner
Vida Mehri

text
Amanda Andersen
Spela Petric

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The Bridge between Visual and Aural

Festival van Vlaanderen Kortrijk 21/04 - 05/05 2013
Ville Sonore 2013 / art sonor international map

“[...] the bridge gathers to itself in its own way earth and sky, divinities and mortals.”[1]

Concept
The project situates itself at the crossroads between architecture - involving visual and haptic qualities - and sound. It gathers the Heideggerian concept of the fourfold (Earth, Sky, Mortals, Divinities), which I would like to call gaze (visual), embracing Earth and Mortals as something that mortifies, and voice (aural) uniting Sky and Divinities into something that vivifies.[2] While standing on a bridge, a new landmark of the city of Kortrijk, the idea is to mix sonic narratives with a visual journey; to build bridge between aural and visual. This is realized through vibrations within the structure of the bridge and its surrounding environment. The produced sound invites the spectator to stop and focus his/her attention to the view. The narratives are not directly connected to the seen image; they rather serve as a meditative element. The sound walk will guide the audience across the river Leie, while discovering the city view from new infrastructural elements (i.e. bridge) through real-time sounds from the surroundings. The river that flows below, the terrain surrounding the bridge and other suitable elements that provide sound through vibrations, such as hollow metal structures and wires connecting different parts of the bridge, will be used as a source. Using hydrophones and contact microphones, movements and vibrations producing sound will show the viewer a vibrant life that goes beyond the visual.[3]

Realisation
The bridge will be mapped with hydrophones/contact microphones (27mm piezo element) connected to an amplifier in order to translate the vibration-based input to an audible output. The microphone placement will be decided on the spot. A small box, produced in a recognizable shape, positioned on the bridge, will provide a spot where the spectator can connect his/her headphones and hear the hidden sound.

[1] Martin Heidegger, "Building Dwelling Thinking", Basic Writings, (New York: Routledge, 1993), 355.
[2] Slavoj Zizek, "I Hear you with My Eyes, or, The Invisible Master," Gaze and Voiceas Love Objects, (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996), 93.
[3] Ibid.,

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