In the beginning was…..sound.
Encompassing the beginning and the end, light and dark, anxiety and meditation, the vast and the infinite, Nathan Mann has developed a composition specifically to work with Material Sound, a cymatic installation that has grown from Hans Jenny’s experiments into a mesmerising and emotionally compelling twenty minute experience.
Part composition part sound collage, Nathan Mann draws from the vivid sonic descriptions of the ‘Dark Hours of the Sun’ to surround the viewer with a emotional musical narrative, which simultaneously drives a choreography of cymatic movements of visualised sound. The work features data recorded directly from the sun itself and sonified by NASA, auditory illusions which disorientate the listener, motifs and references which pay homage to key figures in our shared history of sonic understanding, and whispered recitals from the text itself.
Six speakers are positioned just below an taught latex membrane covered with Lycopodium powder (the spores of club moss). The vibration from the speakers excites the membrane producing complex patterns on and above the surface. Raking light mixed with a blue laser stripe reveal the patterns created in the powder.