you make my earth quake (2019)
video installation (33:29 min)
YOU MAKE MY EARTH QUAKE is a research on natural low frequency phenomena and how people experience such kind of sounds. In interviews, derived from the practice of current earthquake research, people with different kind of cultural backgrounds were asked to describe the sound of an earthquake. How does personality and emotions influence memories connected to a specific kind of sound? What is music telling us about our relationship to the physical enviroment?
In pop culture earthquake as a metaphor is used in very different kind of ways heavily dependent on geographical location. There are more than 5000 music releases titled earthquake. Almost all of them were created by the western music industry.
stills and installation view: Kunsthaus (Hamburg), Treasure Hill Artist Village (Taipei)
“You may not remember the first time you heard the query, or how many times you have heard it since: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” Usually, people pose this conundrum to raise questions about reality and observation. However, having mulled it over for quite some time, I think that the question’s import lies elsewhere. If you were there in the forest, the sound of the falling tree might be one of your lesser concerns. Your attention might be drawn to the darkening of the sky as the great tree crashes down, filling your visual horizon. You might notice the eerie sounds of birds as they flee; perhaps you would squint as your eyes burned from the dust that whirled upward, saturating the air; or you might feel alarmed by the thump of the tree crashing to the ground through the branches of other trees, even bringing them down with it. You might simply be overwhelmed by the impact of the thump vibrating through your body. Conceiving of a falling tree as sound alone does not even begin to address the phenomena that are involved. The same applies to music, sound, singing, and listening.”
Sensing Sound, Nina Sun Eidsheim
