The idea of the “Sound Walk” in fine art is usually a marriage between the artist’s presentation of site specific concepts and the pre-recording of natural / urban sounds provided to listeners for experiencing. Christina Kubisch adapts this idea to previously invisible worlds. By developing headphones that act as receivers of electromagnetic impulses Kubisch allows listeners to hear the network of transmissions that surrounds them and seek out individual experiences of their own. For the purpose of this recording she gathered sounds from many cities (Birmingham, Chicago, Taipei, Paris etc.) and many sources (NYC’s Times Square, various train stations and airports, retail security doors) and with careful sequencing has created a kind of music that is alien despite continually being present in our lives. “Homage With Minimal Distortion” reveals Times Square to be a wonderland of ambient loops that almost naturally resembles the work of artists like Alva Noto or Ryoji Ikeda. “E-Legend II” illustrates the landscape of Birmingham where the near-silent decay of collapsed industry abuts the cellular voice-haunted squawk of new technologies. In some ways this work updates the new age music fads like Solitudes; recordings of nature to be played in your living room. But this is the new new age after all, and not as relaxed as before.Important
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