Isolator
2012
Installation, Mixed Media
Stresa, Italy
Stedelijk @Trouw, Amsterdam
A core question of metaphysics is: is there a “spirit” in matter?
“Isolator” is an attempt to make the traces of human existence stored in space perceptible and tangible. The installation is set up in an antique kitchen on Isola Bella. What was bubbling in the many cooking pots here in the past? What scenes of life have taken place here? The walls as silent witnesses have witnessed it. “Isolator” makes them talk.
Three spotlights illuminate the darkened room and reflect on the surface of the 15″ speaker filled with black water, which stands on the bare floor. Three circles of light appear on the opposite wall, changing shape as the speaker’s diaphragm moves. The movement is generated by a sound whose frequency is very low and therefore inaudible. The frequencies of this tonal level are too low for our ear. Nevertheless, they form patterns and waves on the water surface, which refract and scatter the light. Four more speakers are distributed in the corners of the room. They play a multi-channel composition from the sounds of the moving furniture.
