- Venue
- PR1 Gallery, UCLan
- Location
- North West England
Golden Gum by David Henckel was produced as a site specific aural installation, shown twice in the entrance to PR1 Gallery, Preston. This text responds to the second showing in September 2013, as part of the Digital Aesthetic 3 series of events and exhibitions.
The heavily traversed space of the entrance to the gallery and university building was mapped by the artist through the patches of discarded chewing gum. Each piece was painted gold, and matched with a set of coordinates (a result of surveying the entire space), which then in turn dictated the pitch of a pre-recorded note, and was triggered by motion, i.e. another passer by stepping over the patch of discarded gum. Once installed the set up allowed both knowing participants and unaware visitors to the building to interact with the space on a sonic level creating waves and ebbs within the dimensions of the space, marking passages of transit which overlay and intersect.
It rushes after solemn sparse chimes, a sudden and building wave that flows through and across the space pursuing the hurried clatter of footsteps and disappearing forms. The slow dispersal of acoustics, a random trigger which speaks of nothing, yet reminds of that potential to authorship.
The piece relies upon two intersecting and unpredictable sets of actions by the participants. Firstly, the random and unconscious decision to drop the chewing gum at a certain location within the chosen parameters, which offered the artist an opportunity to devise and create the work. Secondly, the transit of the audience/participant through the aural space of the installation triggers the playing of the notes in that specific formation, an immediate reaction and evidence of the audience member’s participation (perhaps unknowing) with the work. The reception of the participant and their immersion affects the individual’s response and the operation of the piece: the choice to become a knowing player and listener, or a lack of comprehension that their movements are triggering the soundscape. Each would alter exactly how the work is performed and understood, Golden Gum allows for both responses to operate within the installation. A quickly passing student or office worker initiates a brief swell and trail in their wake, a ‘player’ of the piece a more meandering and curious tracking of the sonic environment.
I’m not sure… its here every time I come in the building… the same every time… yes everyday, I’m not sure for how long…
Through these overlapping motions the two groups (each potentially sharing members) have been allowed to intersect and interact with each other although not necessarily meeting, or being aware of their addition to the artwork. This method of accepting chance within the production and duration of artworks recalls the Duchamp Unhappy Readymade in which a book was exposed to the elements as a performative, deteriorating object, with the resulting outcome an unknowable quantity (the work was carried out by Duchamp’s sister to his instructions, again the artist removed from the making process, the work devised for the audience to enact). This demonstrated the potential of chance inherent in all artworks to an extent, and celebrates the random participant (be that building users, or the weather) as an unharnessed creative force. A link is also to be made to the collage poems of the avant garde era, in their reliance upon chance in creating new meaning. However, the precise process of mapping employed within Golden Gum further elevates this concept of the chance dispersal, from an everyday action and its influence on artworks, to a more considered mediation of traces.
The score, undercut, overwhelmed by other traces and debris. Sharp rattle of leaves blown through catching on concrete edges. A conversation shouted from the doors carries through and beyond.
Each sound (mapped point) represents a past action, the chewing gum an artefact of the formerly present participant. In looking to the definition of the trace by historian Paul Ricoeur, a concept is formed in which the past/passed event is represented by an artefact (a trace) which was a result of the action. This trace transcends periods of time, coming to exist in the intratemporal space unique to such artefacts – a physical manifestation, yet originating from a previous time, unable to recreate the original situation, able only to point to this passage, to illustrate the absence. Golden Gum reinvigorates these traces, creating a new installation and arrangement from the artefacts, yet simultaneously marks the absence of the original participants and their temporal origin.
A building crescendo that fires across the space, accompanied by giggles and laughter, collapsing into the doors. A knowing racket, a welcome endorsed intrusion into the aural landscape. Breathless.
Henckel’s work supporting the installation is currently on display in the recently re-opened Watercolour gallery at The Harris Museum & Art Gallery as part of the Digital Aesthetic 3 exhibition. Runs until 5 January 2012
Harris Museum and Art Gallery Market Square, Preston
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