2003
7 channel audio work
7 speakers
electronics
installation at
the pomona college museum of art
speak no more about the leaves, was created for the facade of the museum at the pomona college museum of art. it uses the vowel structure of a poem by stefan george as a score for striking 5 tones on a small chime, and thus, the melodic structure of different tones were a sonic translation of the vowel structure of the poem. the text of the poem was initially set to music by arnold schoenberg.
speak no more about the leaves
thieved by the wind
nor about ripe-bursting quinces
nor the tread of winter’s vandals down the year
nor the trembling of the dragonflies when rain falls
nor the candles flickering in the fickle air.
for the installation, i decided to erase the “strike” of the chime, so as to hear only the tone’s resonant decays – both forwards and backwards so that the sound files would visually mimic a group of small hills or the surface of the ocean.
the piece played continuously 24 hours a day for 6 weeks.