1979
Sound Work reference: The Clocktower, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, New York City, Dimensions: 10 x 10 x 11 meters. Extant: Fall, 1979
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The sound installation was made for a large almost cubical room. The simple relationshios of the space's dimensions produced the syme-trical aural topography shown in the drawing.
The tower of the Clocktower is not as insistent as many such spaces: nevertheless, it does inflect work shown there. In Five Russians (A Tuned Room) Max Neuhaus has made it the very medium of the work. There are four high windows in the tower. In the one to the south Neuhaus hid a speaker that emitted four pitches—two high and two low. These combined in bizarre ways: near the source they had a density that hit the body; elsewhere the effect was much more rare; and there were even nodal spots where the waves seemed to cancel. One felt at once very fine and very inadequate as a register.
Four natural resonanaces of the space were chosen - two low and two high - and activated with a loudspeaker hidden near the ceiling of the room. The two low sounds formed large shapes in the works topography. The two highs generated a matrix of points throughout the room, spaced at the average distance between a persons ears. These were heard as different intermixtures according to the position and size of the listeners head.
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| The drawing refers to the installation Five Russians (A Tuned Room), created by Neuhaus at Clocktower Gallery, the space that preceded New York's P.S.1. This sound work, specifically focused on the physics of sound and its perception through body movements, was reconstituted at the Frac Franche-ComteĢ in 2016 as part of the Max Feed exhibition. This installation can be reconstituted because it is simply designed for a square room, whereas most of Max Neuhaus' proposals are intended for a specific location. The title is inspired by the type of chairs the artist found in the Clocktower space. The public could move them to test different listening points. The drawing shows the physicality of the sound, with the symmetrical patterns corresponding to the propagation of low frequencies and the tighter mesh of patterns at high frequencies. These two types of sound produce different effects, quite destabilizing for the body. Low frequencies are calculated to resonate with the architecture, creating pockets in space where they are more or less loud, or even completely silent. High frequencies produce a similar effect, but their wavelength corresponds to the distance between the two ears, as if the cranium were a small resonant chamber within the large resonant chamber formed by the exhibition hall. You only have to move your head a little to hear the sound change completely. All these elements identify Five Russians as one of Max Neuhaus's most significant works. |
