Versus, 2011
Sound installation. 220 x 110 x 220 cm
With the support of: French Institute in Bilbao
Versus is a sound installation consisting of two kinetic sculptures placed face to face. Each sculpture is made out of 12 triangular panels, hinged and powered by six linear actuators, controlled by a specific program. At the centre of each corolla, a loudspeaker and a microphone allow playing and recording sounds.
At regular intervals, each sculpture produces a sound, simultaneously recorded and analyzed by the opposite sculpture, which moves according to the frequencies of this sound. Like a feedback loop, it then plays back the recorded sound, with the errors and disturbances caused by the reverberating space and the visitors.
By intervening in this conversation, the viewer becomes an actor, as he degrades the communication by his presence and the noises he produces.
As the panels move back and forth at a pace determined by the environmental sound, they create a non-immediate interaction, where the imperfections of reproduction become creative elements. The original sound is continuously transformed, and becomes something entirely new and unpredictable. The memory of past events is on hold for a moment, until it is reproduced, degraded, and then forgotten, replaced by the present.
