Philipp von Rosen, Cologne
Ignacio Uriarte
In the soundpiece The Beach the listener hears two different typewriters on the left and right side, operated by the artist Ignacio Uriarte. Instead of writing, he presses a key that is present on only a few typewriters, which causes an automatic forward movement, such as when you hold down the space key on a computer. Then he manually moves the so-called carriage back again. So it is a non-writing, which does not produce any measurable or readable results apart from a sound generation.
The sound of the forward movement is a loud clattering that reminds us of a jackhammer or a machine gun. The backward movement, on the other hand, is a gentle, metallic gliding.
The title of the work refers to the steady forward/backward movement, comparable to sea waves, which can have a meditative effect on the viewer or listener on the beach. In this work, the loud, mechanical sounds of the early administration, which went hand in hand with industrialization, also invite meditation on the rhythm of the city, industrialization, the office, the mechanics, and the symbiosis of man and machine.
To the left and right one hears two different typewriters with a slightly different sound character and rhythm. Since the right typewriter is smaller, it takes a little less time to travel back and forth, so that a phase shift occurs. The work continues until the typewriter on the right audio channel has caught up with the typewriter on the left audio channel.
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