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Sean Dower: Artworks and information

The Voyeur - 2012 (exhibition at De La Warr Pavilion Bexhill, UK)



click on above images to enlarge - see below for video with sound

The Voyeur contained sculptures, familiar objects and photographs, which combined with the technology of sound to re-configure the gallery space. In the exhibition, the forms and concerns of modernity (and modern technology) are uncannily echoed by precedent historical ideas. The magical alphabet of Elizabethan alchemist and mathematician, John Dee, determines the geometry of sound-reflecting wall-panels, whilst Saint Simeon Stylites was the starting point for a towering and cramped platform for live performances. Elsewhere, photos of a Tibetan monastery emit ghostly sounds - produced by spectral analysis of the image. High on another wall, a satellite dish beams sound down towards a drum, which itself acts as a resonator for a concealed 'audio exciter'. Across the room an anonymous, grey metal filing cabinet periodically shakes with bass-frequencies. The work 'Next Door' is a drinking glass with a speaker sealed inside, transmitting a muffled voice, seemingly from an adjacent room (the barely decipherable voice is of the French writer Alain Robbe-Grillet, reading from his novel Jalousie). The inclusion of this work from 1991 emphasises the continuity of the sculptural use of sound in the artist's practice and extends the notion of voyeurism to include eavesdropping. The sculptural elements double-up as a kind of sound system, which engages the visitor in a spatial journey, as the unexpected functions and actions of the artworks are revealed. Click on links below to view individual works (1) Video - performance on St Simeon's Drum Riser (2) Enochian Sound Reflectors (3) Spectral Analysis (4) Transmitters (5) Next Door (6) Shaking Cabinet Below: Video tour of exhibition (5 mins)

Link to: De la warr pavilion

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