steve roden
the moon gatherers (second version), 2002
solo exhibition: a year of skies, e/static gallery, torino italy, 2002

this second version of the moon gatherers was created for a solo exhibition at gallery e/static in torino italy. ever since i began to explore the work with speakers in bottles (inspired by a collage object by joseph cornell of a bottle with a photo of the moon inside), i was interested in the different sounds that the speakers/bottles made when they were hung above with the large opening facing the listener, or when they were standing on the ground - so that the listener would hear the sound coming through the small opening at the top.

for the first version, at the armory center for the arts in pasadena - a public space; it seemed ideal to hang the bottles from trees - not only as an aesthetic decision, but because the sound would be a bit louder and would tend to drip like water onto the heads of unsuspecting passers by. for the torino work, and the intimate space of a gallery; i wanted the listener to have to be very close to the objects before the sound could be heard - to create a small reflective pool within the gallery space.

the sound source for the work is a series of 8 channels of acoustic and electronically processed sounds of the bottles being tapped, blown, and played with a violin bow. these sounds were then transferred to 4 channels of 24 minutes running at different speeds so that the piece slowly changes for every 'viewing'.





(to see another soundwork from the same exhibition click here)

home

bio

exhibition &
performance history

images

discography

interviews

press

contact