Sound and vision: no it's not David Bowie, it's Chorus at the Wapping Project. Kathryn Bromwich is hypnotised.
Do you wonder, sometimes, about sound and vision? Wonder no more. The United Visual Artists group has set up Chorus, an installation that explores the relation between light, sound and movement. Part-sculpture, part-performance, the motorised pendulums swing from the ceiling at varying speeds and patterns, a light and speaker attached to each. At one point they're almost still, then one light starts alone and the others gradually join it. They speed up, they slow down, they play against each other. The lights vary in brightness, sometimes flashing like strobe lights and occasionally going entirely dark.
But we must not forget that this is a ‘sound sculpture'. The speakers play a three-part abstract musical composition by Mira Calix, who worked on it with musicians and singers from Opera North, taking thousands of recordings. With haunting violins, rumbling thunder-like drums, breathing sounds and ethereal vocalisations, the overall effect is a rather uncanny one. The three movements in Chorus have a distinct personality of their own. The opening is mechanical and strictly structured, like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. The second one is more fluid, almost spectral, and utterly hypnotic. The final movement is the most muted, with very little movement at all. At times there are strong echoes of Samuel Beckett’s play Breath, which also centres on an interplay between sound and light, also in three movements.
It is one of those shows where the setting is as important as the installation itself. Chorus was previously held in Durham Cathedral, where it attracted more than 75,000 viewers in four days. It is currently set in the former Wapping Hydraulic Power Station: built in 1890 and active until 1977, it is now a striking Grade II* listed building. Depending on where you are standing in the room, the visuals and sound effects change dramatically. If you stand directly underneath the pendulums you are struck by the Doppler effect as the sound’s pitch varies with the distance from you. From the corner, you appreciate the size of the space and get an eye-catching view of the whole in one go. The exhibition is in the building’s basement, but there is also a trendy restaurant upstairs. If you appreciate both experimental art and nice delicatessen, you can’t go far wrong here.
At first glance, Chorus is a very simple idea. It takes a bit of suspension of disbelief, but then it grabs you, almost against your will. The reflections, lights and sounds make for a mesmerising sight. You're left wondering whether you’ve actually been subjected to a bout of hypnotherapy. Albeit an enjoyable one.
Chorus is at the Wapping Project until 18th July 2010.
Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Click here for things to do in London.
Return to Spoonfed's London Art homepage.
Add an event
Bigger, better, tons more music: East End Film Festival Q&A
The East End Film Festival has established itself as one of the biggest and brightest film festivals...