THE CENTRE OF SILENCE
Kalmar Konstmuseum, 2009
Voice (interleaved by silence, sinuswave and white noise). White filter on window.
Flash version (Swedish voice, english subtitles)
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HD-video on Vimeo (English voice, no subtitles)
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Low-res video (for iphones etc, swedish voice, english subtitles)
This piece was comissioned by Kalmar konstmuseum:
a solo exhibition in the main hall that would
contain sound only. A man is speaking about the
room, the measurements of the room, the amount
of air molecules, the weight of the air. The
voice describes how the air molecules behave
differently when exposed to different kind of
soundwaves. He speaks about the intense air
pressure in the room, the intense air pressure
in the cranium of the listener and the balance
between those two spaces: the state we call
silence.
Excerpt from the script:
1 / 3
"At this moment, you are standing in a room
measuring 16 meters and 29 centimetres wide,
by 14 meters deep, by 3 meters and 85 centimetres
in height. My voice travels trough the air as
waves of sound.
The room is full of air molecules. 78 percent
of theese are nitrogen and the remaining 22
percent are mainly oxygen. They are all shaped
like very tiny dumbbells and are moving
uncontrollably through the room with a speed of
approximately 1000 miles or 1600 kilometers per
hour. Together they weigh just about 1 ton or
1000 kilos. In a few moments I shall stop talking
and then there will be silence for a while. Your
eardrums will then be exposed to a frantic rain-like
racket created by millions upon millions of air
molecules; collectively exerting a pressure of
over eleven tons per square meter. However,
the molecular activity which is pentrated trough
your mouth and nose, to the cavities of your
cranium and soft tissue, and found its way to
your inner ear, equalizes the pressure on both
sides of your eardrum. The eardrum will be in a
state of perfect balance. It is not moving, it
remains still, a thin membrane in a perfect
surface, as undisturbed water."
Preparing the exhibition at Kalmar Konstmuseum.