‘Gallery Research and Approach to Installation’
My only experience of sound installation work was my final major project for my foundation at CCW, I created a quadrophonic piece that was situated in a hallway. I was allocated the small hallway, with completely blank walls it was very reverberant, not an ideal place for my piece. I had finished my project when they gave me the space so there was no connection between the piece and the space, in fact the space detracted from the piece as it was mixed in a quadrophonic square formation and the hallway was rectangular. Through this I have learned the importance of keeping the space in mind when creating the piece, I think this is why this passage from my Asa Stjerna research resonated with me.
“Asa presents her piece ‘The Well’, a permanent installation in the Swedish Institute in Paris. She installed a mono channel work inside the dried out well, she talk about engaging with the stone wall’s ‘agency’ as she puts it. She describes having a dialogue with the space in question, an experimental practice, an engagement with the space.”
Although from first glance this gallery space seems quite blank, I would still like to (as an exercise) try and follow Asa Stjerna’s approach to site specific works.
- Mapping the affective lines– The process of site specific exploration, this is what it means to find the space, researching the site engaging with archives etc. This is, for Asa, a very vivid/active engagement.
- Establishing new connections– The artistic design process. Stjerna provides an example of installing a loudspeaker with a cable on a site, this is not just an action of laying a cable. It is engaging in a dialogue with the agencies of the space.
- Becoming Non-Autonomous– It is important to understand your own situated perspective.
Ive tried to use the HM land registry and the Tower Hamlets Gov website but I have come up with nothing, the only thing I know about the space is that it’s a Georgian house. I think we might be visiting the gallery this Monday ( 10/01/22) so hopefully I will be able to collect some more information.