20th January – 11th March 2007, Saltburn Artists’ Projects. Curated by Lauren Healey
Photographs by Cathal Carey
SALTBURNARTISTS’PROJECTS presents ‘Fire in the Eye (Painting with Electricity),’ a selection of works by acclaimed artist group Disinformation. Disinformation makes electronic music, sound and installations and pioneered the use of amplified electromagnetic noise as the raw material of musical and fine art presentations.
The exhibition features the highly interactive, entertaining and accessible sound, light and live performance installation The Origin of Painting. This enables members of the public to photograph their projected shadows onto a giant phosphorescent painting – to a soundtrack of live (and surprisingly musical) electromagnetic noise. The installation also enables visitors to draw with light directly onto the phosphorescent surface – producing portraits, abstracts, graffiti etc which are literally incandescent. The installation references the myth of “The Corinthian Maid, or The Origin of Painting” depicted by the painter Joseph Wright in 1782.
Reflecting this preoccupation with simple technology, Barry Hale’s Blackout video documents monolithic, ruined, concrete air-defence Sound Mirrors found at various sites on the UK coast – including Boulby and Markse. The Sound Mirrors formed a primitive, acoustic version of radar – an early-warning system designed to pick up sounds of attacking enemy aircraft and ships. “Blackout” articulates Friedrich Schelling’s concept of “architecture as frozen music”.
This exhibition has been supported by additional funding from Arts Council England’s Grants for the Arts scheme.
You must be logged in to post a comment.