Brenda Brown: In Situ
Exhibit at Selby Gallery and Ringling
College Campus, 2008
My work is concerned with the reciprocal
revelations of landscapes and sounds. Beyond their
intrinsic experiential attractions, sounds -- if we hear them,
can be rich expressions of landscape ecosystem phenomena and
processes. I am not much interested in introducing sounds
into the landscape but rather I want to draw attention to those
sounds that are integral and perhaps what they might indicate.
I want people to listen.
Ringling Listening Garden, 2008 -- Inside
The concept of a viewing garden is
familiar. It is a garden designed for the eyes. Often viewing
gardens are not entered bodily; their use and aesthetic is
purely visual and discretionary. My listening gardens
are, analogously, designed for the ears, not to be entered
bodily, and dependent on the listener's (as well as the
designer's) discretion.
The sounds for Ringling Listening Garden
were recorded at 5 sites on the Ringling College campus in
February 2007 in order that the sounds synchronize with those
of this time of year -- February 2008. They were recorded at
three different times of day during the week and then 3
different times of day on the weekend. While the sounds of any
particular time are grouped, visitors may manipulate the 5
tracks and thus create their own sound composition. The
listener may choose which sounds to hear and emphasize --
whether to hear sounds of one, two, three, four or five sites
simultaneously or sequentially and how to combine their
intensities. Five of the gazebo's panel images depict the sites
where the sounds were recorded. The sixth image, a montage of
those five sites, is an analogue to the sound composition
process. (See next work for Ringling
Listening Garden outdoor
component.)
