Infinite Mass: Sound Installation by Gwen Stevenson

Installation Art Work created by Gwen Stevenson for a solo exhibition of her new work exhibited at the Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Northern Ireland. This work is concerned with how we, as human beings, inhabit this world and experience our place in it. We live in both a physical world and a spiritual metaphysical world. Both exist within and around us but are experienced very differently. This work sets up a juxtaposition of forms that suggest this experience. Mass is used as a visual form to convey notions of the bounded physical domain. The unbounded metaphysical domain is conveyed by movement of sound between the forms. The tangible stationary bulk of the suspended spheres co-exist with the intangible ephemerality of the sound piece.

Technical Details

The work sets up a multi-channel sound installation consisting of 7 suspended spherical forms of approximately 750mm diameter. Each form acts as an individual sound source. The installation space is therefore filled with the mass of the spheres and the sounds moving between the spheres (using the Doppler effect and panning between the spheres).

The spheres are fabricated from polystyrene. Their texture is derived from a spray painting process that results in a surface resembling stone. The hanging system consists of audio cables connected from speakers concealed inside each individual sphere. The spheres are suspended at various heights and at a sufficient distance apart to allow participants to walk around the installation and experience the movement of sound between the spheres. I chose to fabricate spheres because they suggest never ending cycles and are the primary symbol of eternity.

One sound source is a computer generated sound from the low to the high end of the frequency spectrum. The other four sound sources are generated from white noise chosen because it spans the entire frequency spectrum, also suggesting eternity.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Infinite Mass
• Installation Art
• Northern Ireland
• Contemporary Art
• Ireland
• Sound Installation
• New Media Art
• i create solutions
• Gwen Stevenson
• Irish artist