Silence Spins

Artist Statement

The installation Silence Spins is an infinite aural tearoom, seemingly without walls. This is accomplished by building walls that do not reflect sound – or at least, do so at a barely perceptible level.

The walls are made of powerful acoustic absorption/isolation materials: on the exterior, Shizuka Stillness panels create a simple anechoic chamber while shutting out most outside sound; on the interior, Aural Sonic panels help eliminate sound reflections off the walls, making them seem as if they are not there.

We might think that we identify three-dimensional space with our eyes alone, but we also practice echolocation. What we see is a confirmation of what we hear, and visually impaired people are sometimes able to turn their aural experience into a kind of vision.

In Silence Spins, the space feels larger than it is in reality. As we set foot inside the tearoom, the silence allows us to relax our ears and brain. We discover the sound of our own breathing and other subtle noises that we make, experiencing a Zen-like sensation similar to meditation.

Parametric loudspeaker provided by the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), Japan
Computer programming by Ken Furudate


2013

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 11

Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation