An age-old binary by Marisa Olson
(originally published in Rhizome - 23 June 2006)
The relationship between sound and image has been a ripe area of artistic practice for at least a century. The philosophical difference between the two 'objects' has often been debated, as have our processes for transmitting and perceiving them. The exhibition, Sound Visions, organized for the Willage Festival by the Upgrade branch in Lisbon, Portugal, carries these questions into the digital realm. They ask, in their statement, when 'everything can be thought of as zeros and ones, as information in its most abstract and immaterial version... what happens to the apparently ontological difference between sound and image?' Sound Visions makes a case for the conflation of these categories--and then presents work that reifies the distinctions. Artists Andre Gonsalves and Andre Sier create projects in which 'sound is generating images that generates sound that again generates new images.' Such audio/ visual feedback loops attest to the cycle of spectatorship by which we are all party to technological development. If you're in the area, you can see and hear the show for yourself, through July 15.
(originally published in Rhizome - 23 June 2006)
The relationship between sound and image has been a ripe area of artistic practice for at least a century. The philosophical difference between the two 'objects' has often been debated, as have our processes for transmitting and perceiving them. The exhibition, Sound Visions, organized for the Willage Festival by the Upgrade branch in Lisbon, Portugal, carries these questions into the digital realm. They ask, in their statement, when 'everything can be thought of as zeros and ones, as information in its most abstract and immaterial version... what happens to the apparently ontological difference between sound and image?' Sound Visions makes a case for the conflation of these categories--and then presents work that reifies the distinctions. Artists Andre Gonsalves and Andre Sier create projects in which 'sound is generating images that generates sound that again generates new images.' Such audio/ visual feedback loops attest to the cycle of spectatorship by which we are all party to technological development. If you're in the area, you can see and hear the show for yourself, through July 15.