Vedute is a collection of works performed by artists who had been invited to realise a work within a very limited space. The space comprises 32 x 44 x 7 cm, which represents the dimensions of a large book. Vedute describes it as a contemporary manuscript. My contribution formed part of a project in which the invited artists were people who generally work with concepts of sound and space. The concept 'acoustic architecture/'architectural acoustics', made me think straight away of the ear: the ultimate representation of acoustic architecture. A medical book I examined had an extensive atlas of the human ear. The ear was dissected in sections of 1 and 2 mm in thickness, in accordance with the three sectional systems: axial (horizontal), coronal (frontal) and sagittal (side view). The sections include a list of the names for the anatomical element occurring in each section. Anatomical terms tell us something about form and space. They briefly describe an object, the material or else the location on the body. Terms that come up are sides, wings, lobes, bulges, folds, openings, hollows, groves, clefts etc. These are all organic forms of space, but in order to be able to classify them all, the geometric space-indicators of length, breadth and height are used. In short, the parameters of architecture. My manuscript, based on the Vedute point of departure, is concerned with the architectonic point of departure of length, breadth and height (32 x 44 x 7) versus the organic sound-space of the ear, made audible by the human voice in the three directions of the xyz-axis. I recited on audio tape all the Latin terms for the parts that I read in each section. I used a 2-minute cassette, placing one section on either side. Each of the three systems consists of 16 sections. The work as a whole therefore comprises 24 cassettes on which one section is recorded on either side. In order to make a distinction between the three different sectional systems, I recited the names of each system in a different tone. The manuscript, i.e. the available space of 32 x 44 x 7 cm., comprises both this archive and the audio equipment and speakers so that the content may be experienced in a three dimensional way.
year
1999
location
Vedute, spatial manuscripts, Nai Rotterdam NL
brief description
audio library of the latin names of anatomical elements of the Ear in a 32 x 44 x 7 cm sound object