If a tree falls in the forest with no-one to hear it, air is displaced, but there issound only when a processing device of some sort translates the vibrations of air pressure into auditory signals.
Sound art is all about that subjective experience of hearing, framing sonic data so the listener makes novel connections, maybe discovering something completely new.
FLOOD’s main mission is to engender such discoveries, and soundpedro2023, which kicks off with an opening reception at Angels Gate Cultural Center this weekend, explicitly take “sound intake” as its theme. And as always, the soundpedro centerpiece is next month’s one-night-only transformation of Angels Gate into an indoor/outdoor gallery of multisensory sound-centric installations.
“soundpedro is significant for Angels Gate Cultural Center because it’s a celebration of artists working in lesser-known, and often under-exposed, genres including sound-art, aural perception, sound poetry, and multimedia installation, among others,” says AGCC Director of Exhibitions Cecilia Koger. “We especially appreciate FLOOD’s commitment to continuing soundpedro’s accessibility to a wider audience with the continuation of its online programming series which began during COVID. They have truly created a season of sound-art for all.”
That season begins on May 13 with MINGLE MANGLE, a gallery exhibition of AGCC Studio Artists who FLOOD’s Marco Schindelmann says “were asked to contribute work, according to their artistic discipline, that responded to the concept of sound intake, i.e., the encounter of any mechanism, organic or synthetic, with sound waves.”
As an example, FLOOD notes work by Tim Maxeiner and Ashton Phillips. Maxeiner’sBlue Noise “presents a visual/auditory experience documenting the artist’s research of white noise, in this work depicting landscape-generated sounds of coastal ocean caves,” while Phillips’sSurrender “makes audible the sound of mealworms decomposing Styrofoam […], invit[ing] the audience to interject their body into the installation, temporarily becoming an interspecies composition.”
As always, verbal descriptions don’t do justice to work meant to be encountered primarily sensorily. That goes double for the main event on June 3, whose interactive, immersive nature allows attendees to co-create and co-curate their own completely unique, immersive experience at San Pedro’s highest point.
Still, let’s give it a shot. Yadira Dockstader’s performative sculpture No Transmission Medium employs chalk pastels, a violin bow, “precarious ceramic components […] and contact mics adhered to wooden forms [which not only] react to controlled touch but are also manipulated by the closeness of others and are reactionary to the surrounding environment” in a “staging and performance [that] reveals this encapsulation of illness and brings this friction within the act of caring for the body.” Meanwhile, George Sarah — whose credits include music for Buffy the Vampire Slayer — will be “utilizing synths, mics and combining deep listening exercises, critical discourse, and collaborative sound art.”
What does that mean? Again, you really got see/hear/feel it — both each individual work and the totality spread across Angels Gate’s seven acres — to understand. It’s all about experience.
“soundpedro is a chance for visitors to broaden the auditory perception of sound as a meaningful phenomenon towards the physical reception of sound as experiential,” says Schindelmann. “Each visitor to the onsite soundpedro will decide what that means to them. Some will wait until dark and go on a nocturnal sound safari, some will get stoned and stagger or dance to sonic staccatos and legatos animating the air around them, and others will simply close their eyes and listen through the skins on their bodies — including, of course, their ears.”
For those with a taste for more sound art after that, soundpedro2023 continues later in June with Soundscapes (audiotracks) and Earmaginations (silent videos). In October, a number of Artist Curated Events (ACEs) will be added to the mix, and in November the season wraps up with UnƧightly (sound poetry).
Schindelmann notes that although it was COVID that forced FLOOD to broaden soundpedro beyond its one-night, one-locus origins, the expended offerings remain in place to allow for a far greater range of participants and participation.
“When the 2020 event found itself in the midst of COVID, it was necessary to make it accessible regardless of circumstance,” he says. “So we went online and virtual, thus removing time and space restrictions. As a result, our season makes the event accessible to people, regardless of age, ability, geography, economics, politics, and other factors. The new and expanded format helps not only in removing some physical and socio-economic barriers, but it also expands scheduling opportunities for a maximum number of people to either experience or submit works.”
WHAT / WHEN:
- Opening reception for MINGLE MANGLE: Saturday, May 13, 1pm–3:30pm.
- soundpedro, an evening of ear-oriented multisensory presentations: Saturday, June 3, 7pm–10pm.
WHERE: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro 90731; angelsgateart.org
ADMISSION: free! (includes parking)
MORE INFO: soundpedro.org
