Exploring the Translation of ‘Sculpture to Sound’, Distorting Sound and the Sound of my Sculptures.

Taking on the idea brought up in a tutorial last week I began to explore the reversal of my translation of sound into sculpture/visuals, taking these sculptures back out into the landscape and creating sound with them and recording this audio. I then made drawings, using pieces of dried found clay, in response to this audio whilst still on location, creating an interesting, potentially infinite cycle of sound-sculpture-sound-drawing.

Out in the same landscape, I also experimented with the potential of my sound cast pieces. I noticed that they had the same effect as a sea shell when cupped over the ears, giving the impression of the sound of the sea, which was an interesting paradox considering I was sat on some rocks next to the sea whilst doing this. This played on the idea of the casts themselves being conceptual spaces that the sound that they represent is held within, almost literally as the ’16 Waves’ series embody the sound of waves which can be ‘heard’ when the casts are placed over the ears.

Holding sound casts over my ears to 'hear the waves'

I created drawings in response to this sound, one done with my left hand whilst I held a cast over my left ear, one done with my right hand with a cast held over my right ear, and one done with both hands with casts pressed against both ears.

Left Ear and Left Hand

Right Ear and Right Hand

Both Ears and Both Hands

To further this idea of the sound of the sea being captured within the sound casts, I made a maquette of a pair of ‘headphones’ which would hold a sound cast over each ear when worn, enabling the wearer to draw, sculpt or just experience a landscape or moment whilst hearing the contained ‘sound of the waves’ held within the casts. I intend to make a more finished, effective version of these headphones in future, which would be able to hold the casts more securely over the ears than my cardboard ones do.

Cardboard Maquette for Cast Headphones

I also explored the ‘could the casts act as speakers?’ question, placing an earphone inside one of the casts whilst playing a sound recording from Pendennis Point beach through it into the void of the cast. This did not have an obvious effect, though the hollow of the cast did manage to slightly amplify the sound recording more than if the earphone was not inside the cast. I would like to explore this idea more thoroughly, potentially using more equipment, such as a microphones and another speaker to amplify the sound further so that I can more easily detect any distortions the casts cause the audio recording to have.

Exploring how my casts can alter sound