Monday, October 16, 2017

Listening to the Rain


I found a new art piece at the Phoenix Art Museum two weeks ago that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm going to try to convey this to you even though it's one of those things you really have to experience.  You enter a darkened room and you hear the pitter-patter of rain drops and as you are hearing it you see a small scattering of white lines appearing on the walls.  As the rain gets harder, more lines appear and then there is a little thunder and the lines flash a little. Finally the rains slow and the lines start to thin out.  It had a sort of calming effect.  I walked out of the room and read the description sign and learned that the recording of the rain was not rain at all.  It was a large choral group snapping their fingers for the light rain, clapping their hands or slapping their legs for the harder rain and stomping their feet on boards for the thunder.  I went back in the room to listen again and sure enough, I could hear all those things.


When I found out that the artist who created this piece was going to talk about her work, I decided I wanted to hear her so, last Wednesday evening I went to hear Magdalena Fernandez from Venezuela speak about her works.  That's Ms. Fernandez seated to the left and next to her is one of the curators of Latin American art who helped with translations.  I also captured Amanda Cruz the museums Director and CEO standing to the far left.

All of her works are large scale and very tactile.  She said she enjoys things that can be touched or experienced in some way.  This particular work has an unusual name, "2iPM009".  She has had exhibits in museums all over the world.  I'm glad I got to hear her speak about her work.  This particular piece will be at the Phoenix Art Museum until December 31st of this year.

15 comments:

Kate said...

Very innovative and interesting. Glad you got to hear and see the artists and curators.

Lowell said...

Who would think rain and thunder could be approximated so closely by a choral group? I can imagine this was an exciting and fun experience. Kudos to Magdalena Fernandez!

Lois said...

How interesting Sharon. You did a wonderful job describing it and I think I would enjoy it very much!

RedPat said...

Sounds very intriguing, Sharon!

Karl said...

Yes, interesting and intriguing, Sharon !

William Kendall said...

Very creative!

Silver in AZ said...

I saw your post title, and I was thinking to myself, we haven't had rain yet this season in Orange County (CA), so no way they've had rain in Phoenix (other than your monsoon, but I've been following your weather closely and you are past monsoon season now)....LOL Very clever!

Roseann said...

You have seen this, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29qaN0M0o0s

Steve Reed said...

How creative! I love it when someone comes up with something truly different and unique.

Sharon said...

Roseann, I hadn't seen that. That is exactly how she described the sounds being made. I could even be the same choir. Thanks for the link.

Judy Ryer said...

That's interesting and unusual!

Judy Ryer said...

I looked at that video, awesome!

Bill said...

Sounds very interesting. It must have been nice to hear the artist talk about her creation. I got to look at the link and it is a very creative piece.

Ophelia update: It is pretty windy here right now with a little rain. South of us, 360,000 people have lost power and they say it could reach up to 500,000. Hopefully it will die down when it passes over us. Fingers crossed.

Jack said...

I am sure I would find this work to be fascinating. It is clever in its artistic concept and in the simulation of rain by humans in a choir. Thanks for writing about it.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

This kind of installation is getting more and more popular these days.. remember when art used to be just hung on walls ☺ this would have been an interesting experience Sharon. Btw as I type I'm listening to the rain outside my window ☺