Julien
Grossmann. Kokin (...) Slendro
Stella Art
Foundation on Mytnaya Street
July 3 –
August 1, 2010
Kokin (…)
Slendro is a mixed media installation that deals with the spatial aspect of
sound, both at the level of the physical objects that embody it and at the
level of cultural or geographic spaces and identities that music can generate.
As a whole, it triggers our representation of remote or “exotic” places and the
complexity of trans-cultural relationships. The installation consists in a
series of six islands, little models realized in rapid prototyping, which are
placed at the centre of vinyl records. Theses landscapes, situated on
minimalist turntables, slowly revolve whilst corresponding tracks are being
played. Each ensemble is positioned a few meters away from the others in the
exhibition space, letting the visitors freely move from one to another in order
to listen to the music each diffuses alternatively. The six instrumental songs
that accompany the diorama are each interpreted with a modified synthesizer
mimicking certain acoustic principles. Each track uses only two sounds, and
finally resembles simple acoustic duets.
Exhibition view
The six
pieces are also each based on a different scale and tuning systems, borrowed
from diverse areas of the world. These systems generally translate, through a
specific tone ordering that is shaped both by acoustic principles and cultural
developments, a musical identity belonging to a recognizable tradition. Here is
the origin, largely summarized, of the scales that are used in the
installation: - Kokin is a traditional Japanese scale - Myxolidian is an
ancient Greek scale, at the origin of certain western tonal systems - Kourd
Atar Todi is originally an Arabic scale, that was slightly transformed after
its emigration to India - Pigmy is a traditional scale from Rwanda, also used
in other countries of central Africa - Rumanikos is an old Greek scale,
nowadays popular thanks to Gypsy music - Slendro is an Indonesian tuning
system, principally used by Gamelan orchestras Each of the six entities that
are presented within the installation – Kokin, Myxolydian, Kourd Atar Todi,
Pigmy, Rumanikos and Slendro – is thus formed by the association of a
territory, with its own relief and vegetation, and of a music piece that has
both a specific scale and a particular instrumentation.
Exhibition view
Automated
and synchronized, the six record players function in a particular ordering,
creating a dialog between the different entities.
Julien
Grossmann was born in 1983 in Metz, France. He studied at the Conservatory for nine years, and graduated from the Dutch Art Institute (the Netherlands) in 2008.
Vesti Internet-channel
Russia Today Arabic
The exhibition is organized in the frame of the “Qui Vive?” 2nd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art
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