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The Conductor (3 channel 3 projector work with sound)
The work comes from a series of ongoing experiments in self- replication
and the desire to be in more places than one. Perhaps to be an immortal
being with enough 'spare lives' to experience many parallel but
individual experiences.
The Conductor had been originally composed for single screen for
a seated audience; other manifestations of it include a three to
five screen interlocking projected loop for the gallery.
Inspired by being in more than one space in anytime.
As the viewer approaches the space s/he can hear distant applause.
The Applause sounds as 'real' as an enthusiastic audience. On getting
closer s/he sees inside the darkened room lit only with a low ambient
(screen) light, the applause is getting louder, closer and clearer.
When entering the space the sound of the applause is now full, dynamically
positioned and is placed in stereo surround sound. From the doorway
the space is completely empty of objects, the viewer turns to the
right and sees a 3m x 12m projection consisting of three connecting
beams which consist of 60 clapping people, the same person in fact,
replicated 60 times. The video projections run as a loop, the loop
should be infinite. The sound of clapping is synchronous to picture
and is carefully constructed in 5D surround sound. Each clapper's
spatial position is critically organised in stereo.
The applause becomes 'music', after several minutes it is possible
to pick out a rhythm within the 'performance. The viewer may move
within the gallery space and experience a different acoustic pattern,
a different chord and a different pitch.
The 60 figures are ordered as 59 players and one conductor. The
conductor appears on centre stage and is slightly larger than each
receding row of clappers. He appears to be leading the throng. It
may be possible to play with the rhythmic order of the performer/clappers
and create regular patterns within the chaos of the applause. The
clapping could drift from irregularity to the hypnotic regularity
found in long ovations when we clap to the beat of the adjacent
clapper. Enormous aural possibilities unfold.
* This work can be projected on either 1, 3, or 5 screens playing
back on 5 DVD players with 10:2 audio mixer and an amplifier and
2 loudspeakers.
Lein Cox has shown his work in international festivals
and art galleries and has had tapes broadcast in France, Germany,
Finland, The Netherlands, Japan and on British television. His most
recent work have been shown in Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography,
the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Tel Aviv Museum of Art an
the Experimental Art Foundation Adelaide and in various solo and
group shows in the UK, As well as making multi screen video installations
and short art tapes he is also a photographer and music composer.
His compositions have accompanied documentaries and art television
on British Channel 4, BBC1 and BBC2.
He lives and works in Scotland, and Lectures in Time Based Art and
is Research Leader for The School of Television and Imaging at the
University of Dundee.
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