HYENAZ

For the purposes of this project, I sought to delve deeply into the resonant and sonorous potentials of stones. My intention was to investigate a series of geological rock formations, and to make a number of field recordings of caves, stone bodies, and lithophones (instruments made from stone). With these auditory ‘imprints’, I had aimed to create multimedia artworks. The audio works consist of new compositions, derived entirely from field recordings, and the video material that accompanies them also captures the stone itself. I also document my sound recording process and physical/performative interventions with the stone being used as an instrument.

In addition to illustrating the musical universes that can be constructed from stone, these audiovisual works were designed to explore the relationship of the human self to time. They investigated how the seemingly linear course of time generates tension, and the struggles that we, as human beings, confront with respect to time.

I was inspired by an interest in the animism and sensibility of the stone, in the way it “moves” and “speaks”. My fascination with the stone as an instrument originated when I encountered artist Vito Maiullari, based in the Murgia Region of Italy, who designed a resonant stone table. He split a stone into two halves and asked me to taste the powder inside. He said, “You have just tasted 4 million years; you have tasted time”. I was eager to continue this research into the stone as a musical instrument and the stone as a metaphor for the human relationship with time.

Below is documentation of my six month residency, consisting of a journal from my field research and a sample of the audio visual works that are currently in development.