Artists' Statement: Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey talk about climatic sound art
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
Artist’s Statement: In their own words . . . Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey talk about their aquatic, orchestral sound installation in Brighton’s Circus Street Market – part of Brighton Festival 2015.
Artists Tim Humphrey and Madeleine Flynn© Madeleine Flynn and Tim HunphreyHumphrey: We love making interactive works that only really get completed with the involvement of the punter or the audience member. The advantages are: it's always changing with a group dynamic; there's always a sense of purpose for the person interacting with it. It may be something they’re not totally aware of, but they maybe become aware of. The pitfalls? I think it's quite a balancing act especially in a sonic work. One should moderate it or mediate it. If someone always goes in hard on say plucking a piano string, it's a big sound that you have to sort of mix it. But we actually do a live mix the whole time we're there. It's almost like it's an orchestrated crowd movement exercise in that respect.
Flynn: Just to add to that, there is for me something very real in these actions and there's something metaphoric about them too. This dynamic system can only be moderated through listening to the people who are activating it. And I guess when they spend longer in the space they realise actually there are ramifications for their actions and you notice people change their behaviour. Some people are more visual, some people are more aural. You see a transformation.
Humphrey: I don't know whether we particularly want people to take away a message about water use. It's an aesthetic appreciation that we hope to get rather than, ‘Ah, this is the environmental message!’ You know, there's an obvious starting point. This is the beginning rather than the end point, and the end point isn't that you take home a particular message. It's more like there's something that can be achieved by the consequence of your action.
Flynn: For me, what's great about being in Circus Street is the sort of things you start to talk about with people. We've had a person who is coming back every day. He's a young man, who's just loving that piano so much he just comes in to play it every day. It's not an easy piece. I don’t think you walk in there and understand it. So I think that the way that we spend time with people and the way that the team is working together to manage that: it might help people to find a way in that then opens it up for them. We do these daily weather reports and they’re pieces that activate different sections of the installation.
Humphrey: I guess that's part of the difference here, we're sort of all there. It's not like the artist is there for the installation and is not there. In this case the artist is present.
Maddie: The other thing that's been really strong for me is, it rains indoors in Circus Street. When it rains, it really rains. So it rains on the piano and there's a whole sort of dripping and running water that happens over the whole space; it absolutely transforms the way you experience it. And we're open in the evening and then the quality of sound and light are quite different.
- Admission free. Open Wednesdays and Thursdays 1pm-7pm; Friday and Satruday 10am-10pm; Sunday 10am – 6pm. Gauge can be seen at Circus Street Market until May 24 2015. For more details, including performance times, see Brighton Festival website.
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