this is an excerpt of the entire piece, the full recording was released on the line label.
2004
plaster
ink
speakers
audio composition
electronics
installation at
scottsdale museum of contemporary art
scottsdale, arizona
airforms was created for the exhibition phx/la at the scottsdale museum of contemporary art in scottsdale arizona. the piece was created in response to a group of experimental houses designed by architect wallace neff in the 1940’s through a process he called ‘airform construction’. the houses were built by spraying concrete over an inflated balloon structure, and thus creating an organic shaped dwelling. the forms were inspired by neff’s interest in the natural design of the nautillus sea shell and the goodyear tire company built the balloons. nearly a dozen “bubble” houses were built in a suburb of phoenix called lichtfield park… now a golf course (the houses were all demolished).
along with an interest in the aesthetic forms, neff was also interested in the possible psychological results of living in an organic form – without flat ceilings and corners. the many interests that inspired neff’s balloon structures, was an interest in the aesthetic and psychological results of living in a space that was essentially formed by air.
my sound installation attempts to utilize some neff’s ideas to generate plaster forms and sound compositions. the 5 objects were sculpted out of plaster set over simple children’s balloons – and thus formed by my breath. the sound pieces were created using the sound of my breath being blown through a few old wooden organ pipes.
the colored lines of ink on the sculptures surfaces are based on the vowel structures of 5 succulents that were listed as native to scottsdale arizona in a 1930’s guide to succulents in the west.
each of the 5 hollow plaster forms has a speaker inside, and each generates a part of the entire sound work – which emanates from all of the sculptures at once.