 |
|||
|
|
|||
 |
|||
| In front of the Mona Lisa, Louvre, Paris, August 9, 1999
|
|||
| Part social experiment, part
sound exploration, and part guaranteed conceptual failure, Ed Osborn's
Audio Recordings of Great Works of Art was initially intended to
investigate the aural side of the museum experience with the expectation
that recordings of the acoustic life of silent objects would reveal almost
nothing about them. Except in the case of extremely popular art works
where crowds gather noisily, this proved to be true. But if Attali's oft-quoted
maxim "nothing essential happens in the absence of noise" is
applied, is there then really nothing essential about works placed in
barely-populated atriums? As Osborn shows here, there is much more to
sound and noise than can be picked up through microphones, and the space
left to the ear while the eye is engaged is indeed a rich one. By considering
both the actual physical sonic environment of a work of art and the implications
of how sound functions literally and metaphorically within it, new readings
(auditions?) can be drawn out of even over-examined pieces. In regarding
visual art with a leading ear Osborn proves himself adept here at sounding
out this rarely navigated, nearly silent, and always invisible terrain.
The fifteen pieces presented here were selected from thousands of artworks that Osborn has recorded from Scandinavia to New Zealand. They were chosen based on a variety of factors including their various physical locations, relationship to site, and relative fame. Robin Farfisa |
|||
|
This site uses Real Audio to deliver the aural content. Sounds recorded at the site of the each art work can be heard by clicking on the image of the piece. Original recordings were made in two-channel binaural format and have been mixed here to mono format for more reliable playback over the internet. Splash page image: W.N. Wilson "Rounding Cape Horn" 1879, Oil on Canvas, 61 x 97 cm For more information contact: auralaura at auralaura dot com. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
