Client: Center for Arts and Media (ZKM) Karlsruhe
Location: Brück, Germany
Completion date: 2022
Artwork budget: $120,000
Project Team
technicien
Johnny Camara
Johnny Camara
engineer
Gerrit de Vries
Gerrit de Vries
Overview
The sculpture is constructed from e-waste. 300 – 500 recycled loudspeakers are connected together and powered through an amplifier.
The sculpture’s MAIN PURPOSE is to allow neighborhood residents, artists, musicians, choral groups, passersby to use the sculpture as a “Speakers Corner“.
They can participate via a number of ways:
— connect their microphones, MP3 players, and instruments directly to it.
— call either one of two available telephone numbers to express themselves for 3 minutes.
— relay songs and messages to the sculpture via Bluetooth.
— via an “audio twitter” ( #speakerssculpture) their messages are made hearable.
— other Social Media sources (Clubhouse, Instagram…) are integrated as participatory sound input sources.
— via Streaming video systems callers can see the sculpture and the public that they are talking to without physical contact.
Goals
Why shouldn't a public sculpture speak?
Why shouldn't a sculpture be used by local cultural organizations to mobilize communities and reflect their cultural expressions?
This is the main goal of my sculpture: not a mute statue made of marble or granite but a socially responsive structure created through cooperation with local organizations.
Process
Artistically I use loudspeakers much in the same way that a sculptor uses clay or wood: as modern building blocks to create artworks but their main purpose is to supply sound to a public space and create a public "hotspot". By using the sculpture for playing their own music, talking via their cells phones and expressing themselves via "hearable" social media their voices become an integral part of the sculpture.
Additional Information
Why shouldn't a public sculpture speak? Why shouldn't a sculpture be used by local cultural organizations to mobilize communities and reflect their cultural expressions? This is the main goal of my sculpture: not a mute statue made of marble or granite but a socially responsive structure created through cooperation with local organizations.