1997
ink on paper
printed in the book
site of sound
published by
errant bodies.
vascellum (portable version), was created for the 1997 book site of sound, edited by myself and brandon labelle. while the book was mostly essays about sound and architecture or site, there were some artist pages, and for myself, i wanted to create something on the page that could remain active.
in early 1997, i created an installation called vascellum. the main component of this work, was a grid of 100 drawings done while looking at an audio speaker. the size of the installed drawings reflected the size of the windows in the gallery space at anomalous in seattle. my intention was to draw a parallel between the activity of looking out the window, and listening to the space.
while the initial piece was created specifically for the anomalous site; this ‘portable’ version, was created specifically for the facing pages of a book. it was intended as a kind of portable boombox – a listening device to be carried anywhere. in the original version of vascellum, i looked at a single audio speaker and made 100 drawings of the same object. in this case, i have drawn two images, both based upon my memory of two damaged tweeters that were trashed after repairing a pair of high-end speakers that belonged to my father. the activity of quiet remembrance is also an act of listening; and in this case, on the 15th anniversary of the death of my father. i viewed the text-less pages as a space for a slowed pace or an architecture for quiet activity – a kind of silent room tucked between a sea of information. my intentions were that the drawings of speakers would become objects of audio transference whenever one’s attention might rest upon them; so that the surrounding sounds can have a projected presence through them… just like real speakers.