Sounding Spaces – 9 sound installations, ICC [ Tokyo, Japan ] July 11-Sept 28, 2003
From the Preface: “Sound Art” is a genre currently attracting worldwide attention, with a large number of artists engaged in ambitious experiments with this medium of expression. Since ICC presented the exhibition Sound Art: Sound as Media in 2000, there have been a number of other exhibitions at other venues taking up the theme of “Sound Art” or simply “Sound.” Some have raised questions involving hearing and perception, others have focused on the physical properties of sound. In any case, the works presented, despite their extremely limited means, have possessed a power to deeply stir our senses and imaginations.
The trends of the last few years serve as the backdrop for ICC’s current exhibition, Sounding Spaces – 9 Sound Installations which features nine different sound environments created by six individual artists and three teams from Japan and abroad.
We, the public, will not only have the opportunity to experience these environments as spectators, but in some cases will participate as one of the elements in the realization of the works themselves. These interactions will not be ones of simple, linear cause and effect. In some cases the environment of the work will be altered by our entry into it. Other works will encourage the self-replication of sound, use sound to heighten and alter spatial awareness, employ sound and narrative to evoke scenes that stir the emotions, or create sonic spectacles. The methods of the artists are diverse, and will present us with an intriguing diversity of environments to experience.
Artists include: Alvin Lucier, Christina Kubisch, David Cunningham, Kubota Akihiro, Rafael Toral, Edwin Van der Heide, Richard Chartier & Taylor Deupree, Alejandra & Aeron, and Inada Kozo (Superseat).
About “Specification.twelve” in this work, four types of sound are emitted from eight speakers arranged in a certain space. Consisting of simple loops, these sounds do not form a complete tune. Through the differences among the cycles of each loop, the listener experiences these sound sources in various combinations.