At Kunsthalle Below (KhB), snails and slugs were prominent—carpeting the walkways and greenways. Each day, I would perform a dance as I tiptoed back and forth between buildings to avoid the gastropods, pausing to watch them live their lives at a glacial gait. The slower pace and quietude of the northern Germany countryside had me thinking more about things that had been pushed to the margins by keeping busy. I reflected more on recent passing of my parents.
The music is partly composed of sounds collected from a wire postcard rack in KhB's main building. By gently bowing the wire structure, I could elicit eerie chirps and chimes.
Link to projectWhile living in Germany during the summer of 2023, I collected audio samples from the Berlin Wall by attaching a contact microphone to the exposed rebar of the original sections of wall and then hitting the rebar with my finger. The resulting resonant sounds resembled the bells that regularly chime around Europe. I arranged the sounds in intervals based on standard carillon peals used at times of celebration. A wall of amplifiers plays the various peals at random intervals creating a cacophonous noise.
Link to projectThis piece was made this while traveling in Europe during the summer of 2023. My status as a foreigner was continually underscored by my unfamiliarity with the languages and histories of the regions. Some objects were indecipherable without cultural context. I wondered what aliens might make of our museums, or if they would make anything of them. A work of art may be of similar interest as a drinking fountain or light bulb. He noticed another foreigner in the gallery with him—a fly buzzing around and landing capriciously wherever was convenient. It became the subject of this video.
Link to project