Testimonial

“During the artist residency at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art + Swoon, I worked on several geological materials and the soundscape of Colorado including the “sound of erosion” with metamorphic rocks and acid, crystal radio and recording in the TANK, an old resonant water tank situated in west Colorado. Those projects were made possible by lots of collaborations with local artists, engineers and artisans and the inspirations also came from different meetings in the local art community.

[Recording in the nature at night – Anemone Hill (Boulder)] I invited a Boulder-based artist, Ryan Wade Ruhlen and his orchestra, Rumpilots to play music to the sound of crickets in the nature at night. A part of the recordings was played at the last presentation.[Metamorphic stones and acid] Introduced by Marda Kirn, I met Victor Creazzi, who practices the razor horns in experimenting with locally found stones. He told me about the metamorphic stones such as limestones that react to acid with effervescent effects. I have been working on effervescent sound in amplified water using porous ceramic. This time I used lemon juice as acid and locally found stones to listen to effervescent sound of metamorphic rocks. According to my research, the rock formations seen in the Colorado landscapes are often made by acid-containing ground water. So the produced sound was almost the sound of erosion. Victor also showed me the way he was working with razor horns and it was inspiring.

[Recording at the TANK] The Denver-based artists, Adan De La Garza and Jenna Maurice brought me to the TANK in Rangely, Colorado, a once-abandoned 65′ tall 40′ wide steel water tank transformed into a place for sonic arts because of its unique acoustics (long reverberation). I made some improvisation-based compositions using locally found quartz, porcelain pieces and the voice. One of the compositions is about pronouncing words and texts related to mining with whispery voices that circulate in the room inspired by mining “ghost towns” I visited near Boulder. I invited Adan and Jenna to perform in those compositions. Some parts of the recordings were played during the last presentation at Swoon.

I think the residency was fruitful with so many new elements added to my artistic practice, which would be difficult to pursue without such opportunity that gave me the time, the space and the resources to make it happen. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I will keep you updated about the on-going projects related to the residency.”