NOTES FROM THE TWIN CHAMBER / 2015 The spectacular video animation Notes from the Twin Chamber introduces a curious and strange other world doomed in the hands of nature’s force. The viewer is struck by the magic of a floating cosmic universe inhabited by disquieting celestial organisms. To the sound of maritime foghorns, microwave clocks and creaking wood, fragments of known objects - airplanes, trees, saw blades, shopping carts, trash and debris – passes by in a state of diminished gravity, falling from the face of the earth. Resembling the wake of what could be a post-apocalyptic disaster, Notes from the Twin Chamber presents a futuristic scenario where the order of existence is disorder and destruction. Contrastingly, an element of hope and cheerful emotion still comes through. Ericsson alludes to a world filled with the anxiety of complete human helplessness. This coincides with some of the great existential issues that concern humankind today. It also inscribes itself in a tradition of artistic philosophy, concerned with the fate of man and for whom the prelude to the end of the world is a moment of exploration and reflection. MIKAEL ERICSSON works with various forms of artistic expressions such as drawing, animation, sculpture, sound, film and television. In recent years, Ericsson has created a series of large-scale audio and video installations using hand drawing animation and fluorescent light to stage his cinematic installations. EFTERKLANG / REVERBERATIONS / RÖDA STEN KONSTHALL / GOTHENBURG With reference to its formal definition, the word reverberation describes “the prolongation of a sound after a sound is produced” – a type of resonance. A reverberation thus accumulates all reflected sounds in a space while taking a new shape. Referencing this phenomenon the exhibition Reverberations explores how sound is employed in relation to form, shape and architecture, but will also look and listen for ways in which sound embodies physical space and can be felt as a visceral experience. Because we experience sound through our sensory perception, sound also has the potential to cause and create a tremendous impact on our emotional landscapes. As a result we become aware of just how powerful sound can be in evoking lasting personal memories, narratives and stories. Led on by one of sound art’s modern masterpieces - The Forty Part Motet by Canadian artist Janet Cardiff -Reverberations essentially seeks to explore the very notions of sound’s afterlife and its echoing visual universe. “Sound is a vast immaterial occurrence - a phenomenon so eternally present in our everyday lives, yet completely intangible. Sounds accompany us in everything we do and therefore confirms our existence - when we walk through cities or landscapes, have conversations or even when we dream. When things are silent we make up our inner soundtracks, connecting our experiences of sound, image and space with how we remember events. Ultimately sound plays a fundamental role in constituting our identities”. - Aukje Lepoutre Ravn |