音響装置
(Sound Apparatus)
A suikinkutsu, literally "water koto cave”, is a practical sound device which is built in the basement of a chōzubachi; a vessel to rinse mouth and hands before going into temples, shrines, and tea houses.
When it is separated from its practical purpose, which is to purify one’s self, and is presented only to make sound, it is no longer a suikinkutsu but a new sound apparatus (onkyō sōchi). The droplets are no longer washing hands or mouths, but rather they are simply, sound.The intervals between drops of water are random. However, in this randomness the viewer/listener finds rhythm and timbre. This perceived rhythm and timbre is the premise of this work, Sound Apparatus.
Sound Apparatus’ purpose is to represent. By giving a form to water, it creates an environment for the audience to listen and contemplate. Here I, an artist, exist as a facilitator, instead of a creator. It focuses on the very act of art, appreciation of the captured randomness of the world.
I attempt to evoke the fact that everything exists within one’s selves by bringing the elusiveness of nature in the art appreciation realm. Each viewer creates their own interpretation of the sound of the droplets. This is the interactivity of humans appreciating the sound of water drop. This device exists as just an object unless there is a viewer.
This device is meant to be built with its blueprints. This is because it is not necessary to express the builder’s personality. The concept of the artwork is to capture and to represent the randomness of nature. "Device assembly" is the process of achieving that concept.
Blue print available at:
https://0a3daf18-6ef6-4efd-8836-99fda9782715.filesusr.com/ugd/0ee744_776a99ad41ca448b91c6bfc79f109adf.pdf