Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Sounding waves: Drawing into the mind's eye.


Maryclare Foa



                  In this paper I will propose that through a trans-disciplinary practice encompassing performance, sonar, mapping and the spoken word, it is possible that the invisible waves present in our environment might be revealed and interpreted as drawings. And that these drawings do indeed cross boundaries because they are free from any surface confined by no border, transient, in constant motion, and although sometimes visualised with technology, they are most often perceived in the mind's eye.



Firstly through text interspersed with moving and still images I will describe how I have come to understand sound as a method of drawing that maps, measures and reveals the condition of place. I will also define how place and practitioner interact through sonic reflection, and I will introduce my practice, in which I use sound as a drawing method to converse with the outside environment.



I will then go on to expand this concept encompassing a broader array of invisible yet distinguishable waves that exist in our environment. Tracking their routes with recorded material, the spoken word, and song, I will perform into the listeners' mind's eye, a lattice that exists through the environment comprising the routes of the wind, migratory flyways, and radio and satellite signals. I will also draw a sonic map of Dubai. And in so doing I will propose that; more than producing a vector [route or course] of thought, because performance employing sound can conjure those vectors into images (unbound by border or dimension) for the mind's eye, then the presentation in itself can be perceived as a method of performing a drawing.

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