Susan Phillipsz – Sound Art

‘War Damaged Musical Instruments’ At Tate Britain

21 November 2015 – 3 April 2016

In the recording sessions of ‘war damaged musical instruments’ by Susan Philipsz, the artist states that she wanted to make it evocative. About the breath and the breathing of the wind instruments. Rather than making a tune or the instruments sounding as perfect or as proper as they should. The sounds are very solitary, haunting noise, going from high pitch whistles, to short comical tumps. These are contrasted by long, low powerful notes.

I only read that the piece is actually based on ‘The Last Call’ (a disjointed version of the traditional piece of music used at funerals and memorials to commemorate those who died in battle) after experiencing the piece. I can’t tell if this enabled me to have a different reaction to the piece, than knowing everything to begin with. My initial reaction was that of joy and magic. Of these curious, out of place noises interupting the enormous hall in the Tate.

Looks as though the instruments had been recorded in a concert hall for orchestras. All of the instruments are handled with white gloves and delicate hands. New silver mouth pieces are used to protect the artifacts. The sounds of these sometimes lingering, sometimes abrupt horn noises makes you consider the individuality of each soldier, lone souls calling in mournful voices. Like wolves howling from a distance to each other, signaling their position during a hunt.

My sketch of one of the 14 speakers used in the installation.

Sitting in the hall and listening, the experience, extracted from field notebook;

timed slowly, seemingly at random, some are lone, some together, low, pause, high, pause,slow build, then loudly together. In the large spacious hall in the center of Tate Britain, it feels like a solemn mausoleum of past sounds. But it feels contradictory, as the noise is novel and fun to hear. It is relaxing, personal like a prayer in a church (in terms of atmosphere and space), somehow making you feel small and child like in your simplicity as a being in that moment. As in memorial services, you are relating to past events, ones you know shaped you life and society, yet have no direct connection with.

A thought about my own work, I would like to do a sound piece where visitors can only whisper and take of their shoes like in some of Jon Rafmans installations. As this feels like meditation, in a great space for breath. People rushing through and and talking feels like interruptions, as you know they are not immersed.

On the other hand, my mind was changed slightly by talking to a friend”the people flow through the harsh architecture, as the sound builds and dies with a feeling of passing through.” These two situations correlate so well together. There is something in watching people still and listening. Being reflected in the floor, becoming vertical streaks of visual noise.

History and art combining into a solid archival, representational concept. The fragile artifacts recorded and replayed through modern electric horns, to learn through the emotion of an object, being able to attach facts to emotional reaction, history through feeling.