The initial idea for this module was to make a marionette. However, I changed my mind about this project for several reasons. The first reason was the amount of work and time this project would consume. I don’t have much time because I just started a new job in Creative Support. I am employed in this nonprofitable company as a leader of an Art Group, which resonates with my coursework. However, I am not dismissing this project completely. I am still interested in the proceeding and making another marionette, but I feel I should make something new that could expand my knowledge and support my practice. Therefore, I had several discussions with my tutors, and the substitute of the marionette is still a sculpture but made from different materials.
I am going to use sellotape for this sculpture. I made a sculpture from sellotape previously as a part of an experiment. The idea is to create a human-size body, express the purity of the human soul, and connect the core of being through sculpture or sculptures. The idea is the same as I planned in the initial work of this module. However, I want to include a more contemporary approach in this project to communicate through the body language of the statue or statues, involving sound and visual interpretation of light.
I will support this project by researching contemporary artists such as Jaume Plensa, Antony Gormley, Cedric Le Borgne, Moto Waganari, Edoardo Tresoldi, Marina Abramovic, Jackson Pollock, Ivan Navarro and more. In addition, I want to explore the element of light and sound and how this research could reinforce and give volume to my work.
Planning and refining the concept
The sculpture or sculptures are going to be in full human size. The model will be wrapped in clingfilm first, and I will have to cover the limbs separately to emphasise the body’s shape. While wrapping the model with sellotape, I have to make sure the model has enough air to breathe and is comfortable. The poses could be hard to hold for a long time; therefore, I must work quickly and precisely to avoid remaking. The model needs to be in meditative or Zen-like positions.
Pose one, Kneeling pose: with head tilled a bit down arms left open, palms facing down placed on the legs.
Pose two, Standing pose: with head tilled a bit back as it looked up, arms relaxed but stretched out a bit, palms facing up. The chest is slightly pushed up as the heart wants to escape from the rib cage.
Pose three, Laying position: legs bent and facing to the side, bent arms slightly lift the upper body as it would struggle with gravity. Again, I must modify the head position while practising the poses to understand the body language better. (not sure about this pose)
The public, as a part of the project.
I am drawing inspiration for this project from artist Jaume Plensa. The artist describes concepts as a message in a bottle. The people walking inside or around the installation or artwork represent the message. Because every individual is the real message, it’s the most crucial concept of the sculpture.
Apart from embodying the hidden contrasts in human nature, Plensa also includes the people visiting the space of installations. The performance becomes part of the displayed objects with contemporary human involvement. Plensa involves the public in his installations to make the piece complete in a particular moment. That aspect of the moment takes me to ‘Aura’ Walter Benjamin’s philosophical theory.
“Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: Its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.”
Walter Benjamin
With the philosophical approach and the effect of poetry, Plensa portrays the concept of the contemporary physical human involvement also an expression of spiritual being.
I want to create a standstill feeling in this project when this experience comes to life. I want to use sound instead of words or poetry. However, I think that poetry has a sound too. I don’t want to use words because it could affect the viewers’ perception of the object/s and performance. I like the viewer to have their own experience without verbal manipulation or interference from the outside world.
The marriage of the physical and internal of human beings is incorporated in Plensa’s work with such a variety. I perceive the modern Plensa’s work as a celebration of the human being, good and evil, beauty and ugliness executed through contrasting mediums. However, Plensa’s artwork also reflects his inner being by incorporating the love for poetry that projects the celebration of human beings and life itself.
The aim is to connect the sculpture/s with the viewers’ inner beings through the unnoticed and powerful mysterious energy. The breath is infinite, as is the heartbeat (until the time for rest comes). However, it is possible to slow or speed up breathing and, therefore, slow or speed up the heartbeat with limitations. The heart is physical. Unlike the breath, we can feel the power of the air flowing while breathing in and out. The breath represents the window to the other-dimensional world we cannot yet access quickly or easily.
Personal Experiences’ connection
A human could transport to the spiritual world by creating regular breathing patterns. I believe that once these breathing patterns helped me leave my body and consciously travel through the air, I think I was eleven or twelve years old. I concentrated on my breathing pattern so intensely that I could hear my breath loudly. The sound was comparable to a similar sound as we would have ears underwater. Hearing loud breathing sound helped me keep the pattern in very regular order. There was an element of physical sensation, which I interpret as vibration. This memory of the being transmission to the different realms brought the term vibration to the surface.
The other time I left, my body was in a hospital where I was resuscitated. I was aware of visiting a very dark place where the only light (white) was myself, and my presence functioned as a torch. I approached a side where I thought there was an end and came to an arched wall with embossed patterns. I felt I was in the tunnel on my way to a different world. I could not see the light in any direction. When I moved closer to the wall, I could see the only light was my vision, although I couldn’t see my physical body. I felt someone’s presence behind the barrier. It was scary. I thought about my children, at that point, I wanted to leave, and then I travelled back to the hospital bed. It seemed that the way back to my body took a long time. At that time, I was about twenty-four years old.
These two personal experiences with the supernatural world were so vivid that I suppose the search for the unknown never left me, albeit unconsciously.
The aim is to have the viewer experience sensations and become aware of the inner being to get to the core of the human being. Then, through a breathing simulation of regular rhythm, the connection separates the inner being from the outside world. In this project, I want the viewer to discover the truth about the incredible human ability, and meditation can make it possible with the help of intention and attention.
These memories of astral experiences led me to seek and search for spirituality. Although my grandparents were Christians, my upbringing was strictly atheistic. As a result, my grandparents weren’t allowed to speak to me about God. However, the experienced restriction of belief was strongly supported by the Communist Government. Unfortunately, the atheistic approach came from the parents who thought that God didn’t exist.
The Sound & Vibration
“If you want to know the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. “
Nikola Tesla
Ancient civilisations worldwide had known of the power of sound, frequency, and vibration for thousands of years. In the essence of all religions and spiritual teachings, we can find how the ancients used the power of the words. This power has been utilised in prayers for Christians and Muslims, mantras for Hindus and Buddhists, and chants for the Shamanic traditions. All of this shows us how words and vibrations have an immense power, which the ancients often utilised and used for many purposes.
In the article “The Secret Power of Sound, Vibrations, and Frequencies”, I found an examination of the ancient practices and the scientific findings on the power of vibrations. For example, scientists are currently using vibrations and frequencies to alter and reprogram the DNA of living beings and how the Tibetans used sound to levitate and transport heavy stones. So levitating and transporting heavy objects by vibration are fascinating and powerful elements of the magical energy of sound and vibration that I am learning about and considering the connection with this project.
Vibration
In the article “Human Vibration Frequency Explained,” Jean-Paul Blommaert explains the vibration frequency.
The rational, analytical mind limits a very logical perception. Highly Sensitive People or Empaths would agree that this is something you can’t see or touch. They will, however, confirm that this is something you can feel! Even some high sensitives have such a degree in extrasensory perception (or physic abilities) that they can see the colours of the human aura field. Reiki Healers are “touching” the energy field of people regularly (without touching the physical body), which can be felt by the client.
As Nikola Tesla said in his quote above, it is essential to remember that also our thoughts, feelings and emotions send out a specific kind of vibration. These can stay stuck in your energy field and can send out a powerful vibration into the Universe. Everything in this Universe exists out of energy, a vibrational frequency. It’s the study of quantum physics. The energy we can’t perceive with our five basic senses. Do we have a 6th sense? Is the 6th sense how humans modify and project their perception through energy into the artwork? More information about Human Vibration Frequency is Here.
Energy
Plensa’s sculptures prompt the public to breathe, meditate, and perhaps, take the time and listen to our inner being with closed eyes. I intend to create sculpture/s with a Zen-like impression that the statue/s would make the viewers zoom out of this world and enable them to visit the inner world through the energy field.
The public involvement will be their presence and the time they stop and listen to breathing and heartbeat soundtrack (I am not sure about that). The sound will be in a regular pattern that the audience could perhaps regulate their breath and heart rhythm to synchronise with the soundtrack. I am not sure whose breath and heartbeat I will use at this moment. However, the sound will be selected and used the best part recorded in the loop to create the regular stable audio. The recording needs to resemble the underwater-like sound. I am unsure how this will be executed, but I will discuss the soundtrack and equipment with my tutor Paul Nataraj. The public’s participation will also be their involvement performed unconsciously with the possibility of written feedback on the experience of individuals.
The light
While researching artists using light in their artwork, I came across Ivan Navarro. I chose this artist because of the similarities in our upbringing, mainly for the collective psychological trauma he experienced in his country. I am intrigued by the influence of his upbringing and how that impacted the manifestation of his work. Gormley’s work also shows the impact of experiences that affected his perception. The exposure to a sensation that influenced Gormley’s work during his childhood is described later in brief from my essay. The connection between experiences and feelings can affect our perceptions expressed in our work. This extraordinary power to reveal the inner being through art and work by different manifestations makes people united. However, the representation is distinctive and unique.
Navarro is a Chilean artist born during the Pinochet dictatorship. The politics and government profoundly impacted his work, both in his choice of media and the meaning and thought process applied to his works. His experience growing up under the oppressive martial law of the Pinochet regime has inextricably shaped his artistic practice. His early conceptual works reflect the collective psychological trauma of his native country, combining mundane and domestic symbols with the visual language of power. During his childhood, Navarro was used to that the electricity was shut off to keep citizens at home and isolated;
“All the pieces that I’ve made reference to controlling activity, and electricity was a way to control people.”
Ivan Navarro
Navarro works extensively with light and infinity mirrors, in which viewers lose themselves in infinite space as neon phrases or structures loom out and suggest what lies beyond. These abyss-like works have been presented as a link to Navarro’s fear of being abducted as a child. In addition, his works’ recurrent use of electricity alludes to the torture and human rights violations inflicted upon the Chilean population under Pinochet’s reign. Similar themes are applied in a global context visiting ideas such as capital punishment, migration and propaganda as key points. Navarro’s works activate his viewer’s sensory and psychological experience. Best known for these socio-politically charged sculptures of neon, fluorescent and incandescent light.
In this project, I want the lights inside the sculptures to create a visual perception of the human soul source. The white light is for the visual interpretation reflecting the human soul. The audience could search for experiences and connect with feelings with closed or opened eyes to have a visual connection with the energy or unknown elements. However, this experiment needs to be tested with friends, tutors, and colleagues beforehand with recorded individual reflections.
The light and Aura
The possibilities of what we might see by looking at someone’s Aura are endless. Learning to read and protect our Aura can be essential to individuals’ physical, emotional, and spiritual health. People don’t have to be a mystic to read an aura. It’s widely believed we all have auric-sight (the ability to read auras) and could see them quickly when we were children. The meditative atmosphere in this performance and the connection with the light could be healing.
I don’t know if this performance could reawake the audience’s ability to see auras or the awareness of the light’s healing power. However, this experiment also could reflect the light on the inner human being and the realisation that we are very similar or the same, therefore united. In addition, this project’s concept is to simulate and acknowledge the experience by tapping into the unknown.
Auras are thought of as distinctive atmospheres surrounding a person. However, auras are more specific than that, and they are considered to be composed of vibrations-electro-photonic vibrations generated in response to some external excitation. What’s vital about an Aura is that it contains information about the essence of the person or object it surrounds. This aspect shows that the specific experiences are more likely to differ because of the nature of the individuals. For example, the energy could be Samadhi, the magical power I will write more about in connection to Antony Gormley’s work. Although the location of Aura is outside of the body, I believe that by entering the Aura energy, we could tap into a different dimensional world and link to the core of the human being—more info about how to read Aura here
Antony Gormley
The human beings’ symbolic element recalls the human form we know and naturally associate with Gormley’s sculptures. However, the meditative pose in those sculptures will be like the recollection of the inner realm of human beings. It is the recollection of the forgotten or ignored part of the human, the soul, which Gormley conveys in his work.
Gormley uses his body as a template, a place and space of a body to express the natural conditions of human beings as a trace of the body in time. For example, his sculpture ‘Another Place’ reflects the sentimental and deeply emotional ties to a place we live, and Gormley manifests it through a human form. Most of his work takes the human body as its subject.
Gormley’s work is essential for contemporary art. It is how he articulates his artwork through the concept of the inner being. The energy Samadhi is the magical power that makes it possible to transfer those elements spontaneously into artists’ artwork.
Jagadish “Jaggi” Vasudev (born 03rd September 1957), better known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yoga guru and proponent of spirituality. He stated that; In people’s spiritual lexicons, a common word is ‘Samadhi’, interpreted as a certificate of mystical attainment. It is a state of serenity where the intellect goes beyond its normal discrimination function.
The state of serenity that leads beyond our understanding is the central concept of this project. For example, Artist Antony Gormley travelled and spent two years in India and a few months in Sri Lanka, where he practised Buddhism and meditation in monasteries. The exercise of Buddhism and meditation could help Gormley understand another world, the world we can access through meditation. The viewers’ perception and interpretation mixed with experiences to analyse artwork give them personal meaning. That could be a significant element that plays a role in artists’ work.
For example, Gormley’s childhood memories of his parents insisted he has an afternoon nap. He was never tired enough to sleep, so he would lie there and tell himself that he had to stay still. Nevertheless, he also suffered as a child, with terrible claustrophobia as a precursor to his motionless, stiff body, particularly after being sent to a Catholic boarding school, where tightly cornered bedclothes closed him in.
The strict rules with religious roots could be paralysing and restricting. However, Gormley’s study and practice of different cultures’ religions might impact Gormley’s perception of human beings and art.
Gormley’s work is about engaging his own body into sculptures in a way that confronts questions of the connection between human beings and the cosmos. It shows that the profound feelings are so vivid that the influence of the experiences draws the artists to manifest them in their specific and unique way. The personal experiences are also reflected in Navarros’ work. Activating the viewer’s sensories and psychological experiences connects to the individual’s perceptions.
So the lived experiences connect artists, and their perceptions manifest through artwork. I realised that I also try to embody my experiences in my work. I want to create a connection to the higher power and the unknown with the human being.
The artist Marina Abramovic shares a similar concept with a different manifestation.
Marina Abramovic and experiences
Marina Abramovic uses her body as a medium for artistic experiences. Behind the execution lies the idea of purification of the spirit, aiming to pass on energy to the audience. I use a form of the human body as a symbol. Similarly, Gormley uses the human form of his body as a template for his sculptures.
Marina’s concept of purification links to this project. However, I want to connect through the audience’s senses to the core of the human being with the synchronisation of the breathing, perhaps heart beating and sculpture, which is the idea of connectivity in this project.
In this project, I also want to explore the connectivity and unity of human beings. With audio of breathing and perhaps a beating heart, the audience could synchronise into the regular rhythm to take the individuals to a different dimensional world. I want to synchronise the performance with the audience’s experience through audio and visual perceptions of individuals right into the core of their souls.
I am unsure about the heart beating soundtrack because I haven’t heard the combination of the two sounds in reality. However, it would be great to have the heart beating because of synchronising the heart rhythm.
A bit about the so important heart: there is no organ quite like the human heart. The brain often gets a lot of recognition, as it should; however, the heart is inherently unique and deserves more acknowledgement. It is one of the most important muscles. The heart pumps blood throughout our circulatory system to supply the necessary oxygen and nutrients to tissues all over the body. Roughly six quarts of blood circulate in the body three times a minute. The heart’s contractions while pumping blood is what produces the eponymous beat. The average human heart beats nearly 100,000 times a day, 35 million times a year, and more than 2.5 billion times in one lifetime. Scientists, cardiologists, and the general populace have known the aforementioned facts about the heart for many years. Although this is true, there are still questions about the heart that have not yet been answered.
Specifically: Why does a heartbeat sometimes synchronise with other heartbeats, and what causes this phenomenon?
In the article “The Synchronicity Of The Human Heartbeat”, Roman Jones also gives us an example of the synchronisation of a heartbeat.
A study conducted by Ferrer, E., Sbarra, D., & Helm, J. (2012) observed thirty-two heterosexual couples’ heart rates and breathing patterns while sitting a few feet across from each other. In addition, the study found that couples’ heart rates and breathing patterns synchronised while sitting across from each other without speaking or touching. For more info, Here.
The concept and aspiration of this project is the unity and tapping into a different dimension through the human senses.
Collaborative conversations with Paul Nataraj
I met my tutor Paul Nataraj to discuss the breath recordings.
At the first meeting, we discussed the concept of the project collaboratively. I wanted Paul to be part of the project. I felt that we could create something extraordinary by working together on this concept. Paul’s knowledge, experience and passion for sound are essential for this work, and I welcomed the cooperation and help.
Meeting & Collaboration: Mili · Meeting Paul Nataraj For Collaboration For Sound Recording Otter.ai
Recording Studio
Meeting Paul every Tuesday after work in the recording Studio at UCBC was very interesting and rewarding. We started to record the sound of my breath to learn if we could use the Studio equipment for the task. Although the quality of the recordings was excellent, the device also picked up different disruptive noises from air conditioning. So we agreed that I would use my phone to make more tapes as a sample in my house, where is triple glazing. I suggested locking myself in the wardrobe. Paul agreed and advised that clothing is perfect for absorbing sound, and I should be able to make some good tapes.
I made the first breath recordings through the “Otter” application I downloaded on my phone. On Saturday, 07th May, the recordings were made at about 5.26 am. It was a tranquil moment. After that, Paul listened to the tapes I made, which were still too noisy. He tried to modify the noise and separate disruptions from the breath sound. However, the modification would affect the sound too much. We both agreed on starting from the beginning with a different solution.
Meeting & Collaboration: Mili · Meeting Paul Nataraj Collaboration For Sound Recording Otter.ai
Notes on how were recordings made to monitor the best conditions of the process.
Mili · Breathing Normally Otter.ai
Mili · Open Breathing With Shut Off The End Laying Position Otter.ai
Mili · Open Breathing With Count 4 Gap Laying Position Otter.ai
Mili · Open Breathing With Count 3 Gap Sitting Position Otter.ai
Mili · Breathing With Shut Off The End In Sitting Pose 1st Otter.ai
Mili · Open Breathing Normal 1 Laying Position Otter.ai
Mili · Breathing With Shut Off The End Laying Position Otter.ai
Mili · Breathing With Count 4 Gap Otter.ai
Mili · Breathing With Count 2 Gap Otter.ai
Discussions with Paul
While discussing the project’s concept, we talked about sound and vibration. Then, I remembered that bees create honey by vibration. It is magical that bees can make honey just by vibration. However, they are making a buzzing sound as breathing creates sound and vibrations.
Vibrations & Matter
Bees and other Neoptera insects don’t flap their wings directly. Instead, the flight muscles pull on the springy thorax wall to make it ‘ping’ in and out. Bees also have muscles that can contract multiple times from a single nerve impulse. Together these adaptations allow bees to beat their wings at 200-230Hz (cycles per second). We hear this in a buzzing tone. Bees also buzz when not flying to shake pollen from a flower onto their body.
According to Jaggi Vasudev – Sadhguru, the frequency could be the entrance to a different dimension, as he stated in the book “Inner Engineering”. It is like tuning a radio to the right frequency. The tuning is the sound of breath involved in this project. The created pattern could tune to the right frequency to enable us to tap into different dimensional worlds
Recording Studio
At the next meeting, Paul brought his recording device. Although Paul tried to modify the sound, it still wasn’t good enough. The sound would lose its authenticity with too much technology interference. So we agreed to make other recordings with a professional sound recorder.
Meeting & Collaboration: Mili · Meeting Paul Nataraj Collaboration Sound Recording Otter.ai
Tascam portable DR 4OX
The DR-05X is the standard in stereo handheld recorders with its high value, powerful features, simple interface and excellent sound quality, It is the first choice for recording meetings, music, audio-for-video, dictation, and more.
Recording Media: microSD card (64MB to 3GB), microSDHC card (4GB to 32GB), microSDXC card (up to 128GB)
- New DR-05X now features a stereo omnidirectional condenser microphone, which captures everything from the quietest detail to the loudest peaks.
- Overwrite function for Punch-In recording with one level of Undo
- Functions as a 2in/ 2out USB Audio Interface for Mac, PC or iOS recording
- Auto recording function that can detect the sound input signal level and automatically start recording
- Power: 2 AA Batteries, USB bus power, AC 100 to 240V (optional AC Adapter)
Meeting & Collaboration: Mili · Recording Sessions With Paul Nataraj Otter.ai
The final exhibition for Year three
Our class is joining the year three exhibition this year. Therefore, I have to display my work in the studio so the teachers can decide what work would be suitable to exhibit. They are considering the space they could use, but the priority is the work of year three, which is understandable. I spoke to my tutors about the Being sculpture and the exhibition. Unfortunately, the space in the Victoria Building is not suitable for sculpture accommodated by audio at this time because of the amount of work in the show. The statue needs more space and allocated space to sit or rest. It means that I don’t have to rush this project for the safe of exhibiting. I can work on the original set of statues I wanted to make for the sound.
The recording is 14.49min long and contains various versions of breathing patterns accompanied by a heartbeat. This installation represents the connection among all human beings. I didn’t make the recording that long intentionally. Initially, I wanted to make a series of different breathing patterns to see which would be the best to loop up for the audio experience. However, after listening to the record, Paul and I agreed to use the whole series as it is. It represents the different experiences of human beings, and it is a reminder of the breath and heartbeat connection that is so important but taken for granted. I wasn’t sure about the heartbeat sound, but it worked well. The background drum-like sound gives the breath a more powerful experience and a volume to this work.
Process of making
I started with the first sculpture. I used my daughter as a model again. I explained what I had in mind and demonstrated the pose to her. Because the pose was challenging, we decided to cover the head at the end. I started to wrap the model into cling film without the head (fig.1). I wanted to have visibly prominent forms of the body shape. I covered the limbs separately with cling film to emphasise the body conditions.
Challenges
It was a slow and challenging process. It took me about three hours to cover the body without the head with one layer of sealing tape. I also had to turn the model to the sides several times to release the pressure of the pose. Moving the model side to side enabled me to reach other body parts (fig.2). However, there was the risk that I could lose perspective, and the articulation of the body could occur out of proportion.
Problem Solving
Although I faced many problems, I proceeded anyway because I believed I could fix them later. In addition, I thought if I lost the body’s shape, I could use pictures as references (fig.3) to work on the body’s shape and proportions.
The first impression is that the pose looks a bit stiff. I thought that the arms being covered apart of the body would make it difficult to get them out afterwards. The pose was very challenging. However, I wanted to keep the arms as close as possible to avoid the struggle of releasing the cast or cutting the material far too much to enable me to remove the model from the form. I also thought I could cut and add more sealing tape to the places it is needed to create the right shape.
Releasing the model from the cast was very difficult. First, I had to cut some cast connections near the wrists to enable me to separate the model from the form. Then I struggled to release the legs because they were very tight. I tightened the legs this way to keep the shape of the limbs and position as realistically as possible. After releasing the model from the imprisoned, the sealing tape form looked like a piece of crumbled, damaged plastic bag (fig.4).
I made a sculpture from sealing tape previously called ‘Anxiety’ (fig.5). I articulated the body language well, so I used the same technique with this sculpture, hoping it would work out. Instead, I learned that the pose for this sculpture was more difficult. However, I could support the structure by applying more layers to build up the strength of the body. Then, I could work on it with more structure support instead of struggling with soft materials and facing difficulties keeping the shape in the proper proportions.
I started to layering the sealing tape to form the body’s shape. I supported vulnerable parts from the inside and outside (fig.6). I had some shape at this stage of the process. However, it needed more layers to apply, not just for the condition but also for getting the proportions right.
I applied the sealing tape to the cast inside and outside to firm the structure. It was challenging, and the process of getting to some decent firmness (fig.6).
Head Cast
I started with the same methodology as with the body. First, I wrapped the head of the model with cling film (fig.7) and then applied the sealing tape. I remembered to extend the neck lower to the chest because of the attachment to the body, as you can see in fig.8.
I applied and layered the sealing tape and cut the cast at the back to release the model (fig.9). The form looked great. It was transparent and looked delicate (fig.10). First, however, I needed to add more layers of sealing tape to create firm consistency. Next, I added layers to the outside and inside to support the shape (fig.11).
Progress of layering and forming the human feature.
While working on the consistency of the head, I noticed the head shape showed a trace of a lump of hair from the model. That was created by tightening the hair into a bun. Next, I tried to fill the dents with bits of cling film and covered them with sealing tape (fig.12). It wasn’t easy, and I don’t think it worked. However, I am going to work on it gradually.
Connecting the head with the body
After adding more firmness to the sculpture, I attached the head to the body to see if the proportions were correct (fig.13). Again, I struggled because the consistency of the head and body wasn’t firm enough to get it in the proper position. At this point, I started from the beginning and began to work on the firmness again.
To Be Continued...
Sound Recordings
John Milton Cage, Jr. was born 05th September 1912, in Los Angeles, California, U.S.—died 12th August 1992 in New York. American avant-garde composer whose inventive compositions and unorthodox ideas profoundly influenced mid-20th-century music.
In the following years, Cage turned to Zen Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies and concluded that all the activities that make up music must be seen as part of a single natural process. He came to regard all kinds of sounds as potentially musical. He encouraged audiences to take note of all sonic phenomena rather than only those elements selected by a composer. To this end, he cultivated the principle of indeterminism in his music. He used several devices to ensure randomness and thus eliminate any element of personal taste on the part of the performer: unspecified instruments and numbers of performers, freedom of duration of sounds and entire pieces, inexact notation, and sequences of events determined by random means such as by consultation with the Chinese Yijing (I Ching). In his later works, he extended these freedoms over other media so that a performance of HPSCHD (completed 1969) might include a light show, slide projections, costumed performers, and the seven harpsichord soloists and 51 tape machines for which it scored.
Cage published several books, including Silence: Lectures and Writings (1961) and M: Writings’ 67–’72 (1973). His influence extended to such established composers as Earle Brown, Lejaren Hiller, Morton Feldman, and Christian Wolff. In addition, his work was significant in developing traditions ranging from minimalist and electronic music to performance art.
Cage’s work reminds me of the infinitive, the different dimensional world which resonates with this project. The light draws the attention and naturally awakes the curiosity because it looks like it is leading somewhere. To the space, place at the moment when the audience is present. Another link to Cage’s work is the performance art, which is the element I am looking for. The performance of the public, the human being as a part of the installation.
Exploring sound with Paul Nataraj
The connection to L.M.Cage and this project led us to experiment with the recordings by manipulating sound. First, we tried to overlay some tapes to discover the sound. I was hoping to hear a resemblance of body noise. However, it came out as an alien or sound from a science-fiction film.
Add Recording sound!
Research Plan over summer holidays.
How is sound perceived in deaf life?
- interviews in the Deaf community
- a sound perceived by vibration
- perception of sound in a silent world (research, Evelyn Glennin) and further research of Towards Sound Festival Berlin, Peter Barnard, Cage graphic scores,
Research Methodology
Recordings, interviews, note-taking, web research, experimenting with sound and visiting performances and galleries.
This project is extended to year three because of the complexity of the installation. I will research deeply to learn how to manifest and express the inner human being and the connection to our soul.
Evelyn Glennin
Bibliography
Danilo Kim. (2018). The Secret Power of Sound, Vibrations, and Frequencies. Available: https://universe-inside-you.com/sound-vibration-frequency/. Last accessed 05th May 2022.
Acoustical Society of America. (2015). Vibrating bees tell the state of the hive. Available: https://phys.org/news/2015-11-vibrating-bees-state-hive.html. Last accessed 08th May 2022.
Luis Villazon. (2021). How do bees make honey?. Available: https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/how-do-bees-make-honey/. Last accessed 08th May 2022.
Gloria Lotha. (2006). John Cage. Available: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Cage. Last accessed 08th May 2022.
Blommaert J.P.. (2018). Human Vibration Frequency Explained. Available: https://jean-paulblommaert.com/human-vibration-frequency-explained/. Last accessed 22nd May 2022
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http://www.reiki-for-holistic-health.com/auracolormeanings.html
http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/aura-cleansing
http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/aura-sensing
http://www.thiaoouba.com/aura_eye_exercise.htm
http://www.worldtrans.org/spir/aura.html
https://www.gaia.com/article/how-to-see-auras
http://astateofmind.eu/2010/12/08/how-to-see-your-own-aura/
http://www.thiaoouba.com/seeau.htm
http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/aura-room
http://www.reiki-for-holistic-health.com/auracolormeanings.html
Milena (Filipova) Smith 
I found the idea of synchronised heartbeats and breathing intriguing and the idea of vibration being a portal to other worlds fascinating. It would be wonderful to imagine that the recent decline in the population of bees, rather than their disappearance being explained by decimated from dangerous pesticides, they have actually discovered a way to exit this reality where nature seems to be doomed and have started afresh somewhere else.
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I found the idea of synchronised heartbeats and breathing intriguing and the idea of vibration being a portal to other worlds fascinating. It would be wonderful to imagine that the recent decline in the population of bees, rather than their disappearance being explained by decimation from dangerous pesticides, they have actually discovered a way to exit this reality where nature seems to be doomed and have started afresh somewhere else.
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I loved seeing Millie’s process in creating her ‘being’ sculpture. It seems like a lot of time, effort and imagination went into the piece, not to mention patience from her daughter as a model. I am lucky enough to work with Millie in her day job and see her transfer her passion for art and humanity to the individuals she supports.
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