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She Moves Through the Fair (Pipe Whistle)

- 2001

Materials: sound proof box with a speaker (plasticine, egg cartons, plywood, hardware), copper pipe with stands, microphones, plywood boxes, speakers, audio and electronic equipment, sound

Dimensions (h x w x d): wood and copper object approximately 20 x 72 x 216 inches

Software design: Wild Rhombus Software
Electronics design: Gherkin Works

The sound of the British folk singer Anne Briggs singing the song “She Moves Through The Fair” originates in the large sound proof box via a small speaker. The music moves from the sound proof box through the different sizes and lengths of pipes simultaneously – these different sizes and lengths of pipe create varied resonate environments which alter the sound of the singing. At the end of each pipe a microphone picks up the altered sound. A microprocessor turns one microphone on at a time (the ON/OFF pattern is based on the structure of the song itself and takes 24 minutes to complete one cycle) and this sound is then heard through speakers. Hearing one microphone at a time allows the differently altered sounds to be heard consecutively. PLEASE NOTE that the video recording does not fully capture all of the subtle audio shifts.


Exhibition History:
2008 Art Gallery of Windsor (Canada); 2007 Museum London (Canada); 2003 Art Gallery of Calgary (Canada); 2003 Durham Art Gallery (Canada); 2002 Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax, Canada); 2000 The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto, Canada)