Responding to one of a selection of commissions, write a short pitch communicating your ideas.
This is just an imaginary pitch for a museum installation commission that I wrote in class, the topic and the aesthetics of the project would quite apply to my actual project.
– Hello, in the project that I’m presenting today I would like to create an installation about the dangers of the climate change. It will feature different footage across 4 screens and a multi-channel speaker arrangement across the gallery, it will also be accompanied by a big map of the world showcasing different areas of concern where the climate change is happening. We will need audiovisual equipment in order to record the mentioned footage and some specialists in the field to give their impressions about the subject in some interview-like recordings. This installation will be a great source of information and a great attraction to the museum. –
As a first task before starting to sketch and prototype my projects, I think that it would be interesting to find some pictures and other media of my reference artworks so I can get some inspiration. My main project will be an interactive sound installation that will have as a goal to show us the relationships between nature and technology, and how one can complement the other. In the technical aspect, I will be using code to create sound and visuals, and the viewer will be able to interact with the installation through ultrasonic sensors and other devices that will integrate plants as playable devices in the setup.
David Tudor – Rainforest
As I mentioned in a previous post, Rainforest is one of the main references for this work, it is an iconic artwork in Sound Arts history itself as well as interactive art. I also love the metaphorical meaning of it, because despite of being called “Rainforest” there aren’t any trees or plants and it didn’t even sound like a jungle. These are the kind of concepts that I’d like to unveil; why do we tend to associate nature to technology in some way?
Another installation that really inspired me back in 2022 also for its incredible nature and technology combination was Heather Phillipson: Rupture No.1: blowtorching the bitten peach at Tate Britain. This site-specific artwork recreated a whole ecosystem experience featuring dozens of speakers with forest-like field recordings and screens with images of animals.
I really love the lighting and the flat screens and I will take some inspiration from this artwork to display some CGI on my installation that will react to the movement of the gallery visitors, and I also like the idea of the speakers with a soundscape to create that immersive feel.
Biophilic Design
In terms of sculptural and architectural concepts I would like to have as a reference this exotic style of design that tends to merge organic elements such as plants, trees or water within building decorations or artworks.
A great example of this design in building industry can be found in the city of Singapore, where their skyscrapers and airport coexist with a vast amount of natural life. These are good models in which nature and the latest technology are implemented perfectly and I would like to bring these techniques and concepts for my first portfolio project.
For my second project I will create something in the form of a video, which is one of my preferred formats when I document my practice. This will be a video essay about about the healing properties of ambient music as a mindfulness practice, mindfulness is a meditation technique with a background in Hindu and Buddhist traditions which consists in focusing in the events happening in present moment.
When thinking about meditation and sonic practice the first name to come into mind is Pauline Oliveros and her Sonic Meditations, it is also well known that John Cage was also interested in yoga, meditation and Zen Buddhism, and seem like a recurrent theme within ambient and experimental musicians.
The use of Asian religious techniques and instruments is very present in these kind of practices, especially singing bowls and gongs, being widely used at sound baths, a contemporary ritual for sound healing. Sonic artists like the spiritual leader and content creator Ana Netanel, are truly masters on the field. She organises the Shakti Sound Baths in L.A, California and her videos are a really good example of sound healing practices.
François Matarasso (2019) writes that “art creates change, but it should be in the hands of the person who experiences it, not at the command of another, whether artist or funder.” Reflect in a blogpost about how your work in progress might effect change, and where you think the power lies in that.
One of my portfolio artworks will explore the relationships between nature and technology and I think that the viewer of this creation will be able to experience this relations through a piece of art. I certainly believe that the true power of art is to convey messages or ideas and make an impact on gallery visitors. I want the spectator to be an important piece of the installation himself, and understand these relationships through the medium of sound, sculpture and technology. I truly support this statement, and we as artists need to understand that our work needs to deeply touch the heart of the spectator and definitely create change in their way of thinking.
Pay attention to how artists and visiting practitioners frame their work through websites, work descriptions and CVs. Does your public artist profile reflect the themes of your developing portfolio? Re-draft your artist statement on your blog to convey the concerns of your current practice.
Artist statement
Daniel Marin is a sonic artist, experimental electronic musician, sound designer, content creator and creative coder based in London. He likes to play with electronic devices and experiment through different genres of music and forms of art, always trying to go a little bit further and finding new fields and techniques which are innovative. Currently focused in composing electronica and ambient pieces, he has been involved in diverse projects in sound art and sound design testing gear and creating content for companies like Dubreq Stylophone (UK), Artiphon (USA), Synido (China) or Playtronica (Estonia), and also performing and exhibiting at many venues and galleries like Cafe 1001, Gallery 46, The Crypt Gallery or Q Shoreditch among others mainly in London but having performed also in the US and Spain. He has also recently worked in film composition and sound design for the films Green Girl (India) and Brothers (Australia). The sound emerging from the modular synths and tape recorders he uses, brings us tracks full of immersive atmospheres and rich textures, creating an abstract world to submerge in and having released albums, EPs and collaborations with labels like Diffuse Reality, No Slack or Kama.
1) Complete your ecologies of practice diagram (given in class) and upload it to your blog.
2) Upload one key text and one key artwork to your blog that your prototype will be inspired by and write a paragraph on why/how these are relevant.
David Tudor – Rainforest (1965)
Rainforest is a key work in sound arts and in the interactive installation field that has been largely acclaimed and copied during many years until present time. It will be one my main references for my research during this last year and more in particular for this portfolio unit for a variety of reasons; first, the artwork is interactive, the spectator can touch the different objects in the gallery and the installation itself will react with sonic changes emitted through loudspeakers. Interactivity is one of the main topics that I want to explore this year and this work fits perfectly as a reference. Secondly, I found interesting the relation between the name ‘Rainforest’ and the technology involved in the installation, not looking or sounding as a rainforest, but bringing this metaphor of technology as nature which I would also like to explore as the background meaning of my first portfolio project.
I found interesting this text from Peter H. Kahn about the subject:
“Two world trends are powerfully reshaping human existence: the degradation, if not destruction, of large parts of the natural world, and unprecedented technological development. At the nexus of these two trends lies technological nature, technologies that in various ways mediate, augment, or simulate the natural world. Current examples of technological nature include videos and live webcams of nature, robot animals, and immersive virtual environments. Does it matter for the physical and psychological well-being of the human species that actual nature is being replaced with technological nature? As the basis for our provisional answer (it is “yes”), we draw on evolutionary and cross-cultural developmental accounts of the human relation with nature and some recent psychological research on the effects of technological nature. Finally, we discuss the issue and area for future research of ‘environmental generational amnesia.’ The concern is that, by adapting gradually to the loss of actual nature and to the increase of technological nature, humans will lower the baseline across generations for what counts as a full measure of the human experience and of human flourishing.”
