84.5" x 80" x 12"
vinyl, wood, audio transducer,
amp, white noise generator
a tactile transducer mounted to the back of the piece played white noise
Recording made at Bemis Center for Conteporary Art, Omaha, NE 2008
Black Matter Video #1
Black Matter Video #2
Wall was conceived from a very simple experience. I was staring at a white wall for about an hour. The idea for the piece occurred when I became conscious of my activity and the passage of time. Through the absence of color and discernable sound I wanted to emphasize a feeling of displacement in the familiar context of a white walled environment.
Wall is structurally composed of a wood panel made from 1/4" and 5/8" plywood, upholstered with white vinyl and foam. On the backside of the panel is a transducer with audio playing white noise from a short wave radio though an amplifier.
A speaker is made in two parts: the visible cone presents the sounding surface, concealing behind it the magnet and coil, which control its vibration. For Wall the transducer is the magnet/coil part of the speaker and the wood panel is the cone. The 1/4" plywood vibrates a higher frequency and the 5/8" vibrates a lower frequency so the whole object vibrates with sound.
Wall was created at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha NE and was donated to the center in 2008.