True Self wallpiece for Soundwave, Workington, Cumbria
True Self (2009)
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1000 x 3000 x 100 mm Perspex and vinyl wall piece
Commissioned by SoundWave Workington, Cumbria
The title 'True Self' refers to a term found in my research of music theory and harmonic theory. Created from the original waveform image of the word 'soundwave' spoken into an oscillograph by staff members of Soundwave Office.
A horizontal line bisects the work and is reminiscent of a landscape reflected in water. The line is made of text incorporated into the work which uses the written responses of SoundWave staff to questions I asked about their relationship with music and their practice (singers, musicians, opera singer and writers) and providing opportunities for others. Dramatic colours of deep purple and black make a humorous reference to the Rock and Roll era.
The text through the centre of the work:
Helping people express themselves with their words and their voices * to find emotional content in something written or singing it’s special when they find that place inside like giving them a precious gift * like being connected to a universal energy containing all sorrow, joy, knowledge and spirit * I can be inspired, happy, relaxed, reassured, playing, dancing, excited, love, empathy energised * when I perform find myself lost in music
SoundWave is a 'not-for-profit' music organisation based in West Cumbria with a mission of Transformation Through Music, delivering a programme of inspirational music projects, including performances, events, festivals, and a large participatory music-making programme.
True Self (2009) showing detail of text within the work
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The title 'True Self' refers to a term found in my research of music theory and harmonic theory. Created from the original waveform image of the word 'soundwave' spoken into an oscillograph by staff members of Soundwave Office.
​
A horizontal line bisects the work and is reminiscent of a landscape reflected in water. The line is made of text incorporated into the work which uses the written responses of SoundWave staff to questions I asked about their relationship with music and their practice (singers, musicians, opera singer and writers) and providing opportunities for others. Dramatic colours of deep purple and black make a humorous reference to the Rock and Roll era.
The text through the centre of the work:
Helping people express themselves with their words and their voices * to find emotional content in something written or singing it’s special when they find that place inside like giving them a precious gift * like being connected to a universal energy containing all sorrow, joy, knowledge and spirit * I can be inspired, happy, relaxed, reassured, playing, dancing, excited, love, empathy energised * when I perform find myself lost in music
SoundWave is a 'not-for-profit' music organisation based in West Cumbria with a mission of Transformation Through Music, delivering a programme of inspirational music projects, including performances, events, festivals, and a large participatory music-making programme.
This work was commissioned by SoundWave, as part of a series of wall pieces for their offices titled ‘Spera Mundi’. The work evolved from experimental pieces using found CDs, the bright aluminium surface was scratched, flaked and fragmented and the results were photographed for display. This intervention was inspired by research into historical attempts to understand sound through systems of order.
The imagery initially responds to The Well Tempered Clavier by Bach and Rene Descarte's 'Musical Scale’ diagram of a tempered diatonic octave diagram and John Bull’s ‘Sphera Mundi' circles which echo the cyclic form of music and represent the heavenly and earthly spheres suggested by its title.
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SoundWave is a 'not-for-profit' music organisation based in West Cumbria with a mission of Transformation Through Music.