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2008
UNIT
sound installation
(«Farewell to Post-Colonialism. The Third Guangzhou Triennial», Time Museum/Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, CN)

During a trip through the Chinese Qinghai province, I encountered a lot of drums and other percussion: Buddhist temple drums, frame drums at a «Lorul» shaman festival in a Tibetan village, cymbals and bells in a blacksmith’s street, filled with non-stop clanging of hammers. Some more — natural — percussion was observed along mountain roads, when stones fall from the mountain flanks onto the tarmac. This happens suddenly, and at all times. Stonefall is a product of instability in the terrain, and stones have been used as tools, as weapons or torture instruments, other stones are supposed to have a vital influence on health. Being of so-called dead matter, there is a lot of movement and activity involved with stones. Historically, as a percussion instrument, the stone comes before the drum.

The sound installation UNIT consists of speakers hanging down over floor-mounted drums. The sounds of falling stones emitted from the loudspeakers let the drums resonate. The arrangement of the drums largely resembles a group of water-lilies, although all elements have a technological appeal by their choice of materials. The sudden, abrupt sounds of the stones contrast the harmonic visual composition.

Materials: PVC drum skins, aluminium, stainless steel, loudspeakers, amplifiers, audio player
Dimensions: variable, approx. 6.00 x 3.00 meters x ceiling height

Acknowledgements: Guo Xiaoyan, Emma Guo, Goethe-Institut China, in particular Qiao Cui, Egon Kurth, Günter Matten and Bernhard Göbel (hardware).

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