YOU ARE NOT ALONE...

This week I have been looking at the book 'You are not alone' which explores the sound works of last years Turner Prize winner, Susan Philipsz. The piece was a commission that invited Philipsz to create a   site specific work for the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. As a sound artist, she engaged with the space using the medium of sound and in particular her voice, which is always present within her work. For the piece, Philipsz worked with the technology of radio transmission waves to activate pieces in different sites around the Observatory. As part of this project she also looked at the original function of the building and created a series of works that engaged with the philosophies behind the universe. The sound projected was ethereal and haunting, you could hear her voice, but not see her, so the presence of the physical body is lost and all you can witness is the echo of a passed moment. 

Philipsz was inspired by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who was the first person to discover long distance radio transmission, which literally allowed him to tune into the universe. Marconi suggested the once sounds are generated they never die, they continue to resonate through out the world. I find this concept very interesting, as it links back to my own journey looking at resonance and the invisible trails that human beings leave behind. Space itself can contain our voices and we echo through them eternally, as an energy that is lost in the invisible framework of the world. Philipsz uses the technology to record her voice and to broadcast it within the Observatory, linking her back to the site of the universe...