1999
Intersection I, 1999

Image: Max Neuhaus, Circumscription Drawings
Intersection I, 1999, colored pencil on paper 50x91; 50x37 cm. Collection: The Estate of Max Neuhaus

Crédit photographique : Blaise Adilon

Text panel: 

Two intersecting diagonals of/Sound/Construct an immaterial volume of/Space/As they meet and pass through each other./The aural combination heard by a/Listener stepping into this/Intersection/Transports him vision intact into/A new perceptual territory./As suddenly as it appears this space/Dissolves again when he steps away/Returning him to his origin.

* * *

Freestanding sound fields

Building a space with sound is very much more than simply 'playing' a sound there. Neuhaus must construct sound fields which articulate the space he is building for the listener's ear. In addition, the sources of sound cannot be visible. If they are, in the context of sculpture, they become part of the artwork.

In 1998 he invented an underground sound source which allows the construction of invisible highly focused sound fields. These form clearly defined zones where the sound is heard as coming from around and above. Two years later, with these systems, Neuhaus began a new series of sound works for open outdoor spaces – works which are independent of any existing physical structure.

In the first of these, Intersection I, for the Venice Biennial, two oblong sound fields were placed at angles to form the two arms of an 'X' shape, six meters wide and eight meters long. The composite sound occurred where the two sounds passed through each other. The work was set into the walkway leading to the Italian pavilion in the Gardino. In 2002, a new permanent work in this form was created for the Promenade du Pin, a public park near the center of Geneva.

Image: Photo  View of site istallation Biennale Venezia 1999 

Max Neuhaus, Intersection I, 1999

In the center, half way down the walkway that takes us to the italian Pavillion we find ourselves immersed in sound -- a work by the American artist Max Neuhaus. Neuhaus proceeds from the premise that our sense of space comes through our ears as well as eyes.

With Intersection I, this work created specifically for the Biennal, he transports us into a vast space which seems to surround us the the moment we step into the intersection of the work's two invisible diagonals of sound. Although we still see the Giardini around us, once inside, our ears bring us into a completely new territory -- carried by Neuhaus's sound.

Just as suddenly as appears, this immaterial space dissolves again as we step away from the intersection, returning usto the Giardini.
(text from the guide to the biennale)

Biennale Venezia