Image and Sound and the Space in-Between

8/14/2019 Image and Sound and the Space in-Between

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Ambient 1: Music for Airports introduced sounds that are intended to have a

calming effect and provide space for one to think. Through the development of

this recording, Eno coined the term Ambient Music which was the introduction

of a genre of music that accommodated many levels of listening without being

enforceable or ignorable.6

The 1978 recording allows one to appreciate anddevelop a sensory awareness of the surrounding space. This concept is also

approached in the music of John Cage, whose interests in sonic minimalism, the

ideas of observation and chance stems from the philosophies of Zen Buddhism.7

His 1952 piece, 433comprises of a piano player poised for performance but

does not play. He sits in silence, closing the lid on the instrument after 4 minute

and proceeds to sit motionless for another 33 seconds. The piece is then over.8

Cage is challenging the audience to acknowledge and appreciate the surrounding

sounds in the environment rather than adding to it. Ambient 1: Music for Airports

works on a similar level. The recording enhances the audiences awareness of the

atmosphere of the surrounding spaces.

The ambient and unobtrusive nature of the composition is visually complimented

by Scheffers Music for Airports installation. This cinematic interpretation of Enos

recording encourages the audience to wander through images soaked in hazy,

rich tones, described by Scheffer as emancipation of blur.9 Scheffer recorded this

installation in an airport, reflecting on the title of Enos original music score. The

installation is projected in harmony with the musical composition responding

visually to each four sections of Enos recording.10 The images are abstracted

through overexposed and out-of-focus camera shooting techniques which create

ephemeral imagery that appear to hang in the air. This emphasis on the apparent

movement and reading of elements in a 3-D spatial sense is reflected in Enos

composition. The sense of waiting and acknowledgment of time passing is highly

present. Aeroplanes, vehicles, building structures and people fade in and out

seemingly becoming part of the changing visual landscape. Intense light is

reflected from the waxed floors and filtered through the solid but changeable

forms, creating a surrealistic and hazy atmosphere. The strong hues radiate and

melt together adding to the sense of a delicately to the changing environment.

The gentle pace of the moving stills has a rather organic character that implies a

softness to the forms and relates the harmonious tones of Enos recording. The

6Brian Eno, Ambient Music,www.music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/MFA-txt.html

7John Cage,www.w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/cage.html

8Ambient 1: Music for Airports,www.musthear.com/reviews/musicforairports.htm

9Performing Arts, Music for Airports,www.ideale-audience.com/site/contemporary.236.0.html

10Remembrance and the Moving Image, ed. by Ross Gibson (Melbourne: Australian Centre for the Moving Image, 2003),

117.
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installation has a repetitive element; there is no climax, start or finish, rather a

non-ending mediative journey. Filming the video in the airport emphasises this

transient narrative, which is also present in the Music for Airports recording.

Events unravel, people arrive and depart, distinction between day and night

becomes unapparent. The merging colours, fading forms and slow pace of theinstallation emphasises the feeling of anticipation, movement and atmosphere of

an airport.

Frank Scheffer, Music for Airports, DVD Projection, 2000.

The colour-filled stills of Scheffers piece begin with some solidity but as time

passes the forms merge and become abstracted, appearing to be semi-

translucent shadows, reminders of the flow of time and the changes around us.

The opaque light that seems to filter through the colours and forms of the

installation is reminiscent of the works by Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky.11

Klees 1914 watercolour, Hammamet With Mosque, is a flat composition

constructed with beds of colour that represent stylised building forms,

overlooking cultivated earth. The vivid and dense colours bleed together creating

11 Performing Arts, Music for Airports,

www.ideale-audience.com/site/contemporary.236.0.html
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Scheffers emancipation of blur aesthetic. The variety of the translucent

elements of the blocks of colour accentuates a flickering effect and emphasises an

impermanence to the image. This lack of a strong visual presence and a defined

wholeness to the forms is common motif in Scheffers work. The randomness of

the shapes evokes a sense of dream-like imagery that allows one to melt into themood of Klees work. Hammamet With Mosque does not have a confronting

presence, rather the decorative faade that slowly encapsulates the viewer in the

same manner as the Music for Airports installation and recording does. The

abstract nature and luminous aesthetic of Scheffers work is also evident in the

oil paintings by Kandinsky from the period around 1909. In these works the

essence of colour and the appreciation of the formal qualities of the pieces have a

similarity to the evocative tones and forms of the Music for Airports video.

Kandinskys works radiate feeling through the means of colour and form. These

abstract expressionist qualities resonate in Scheffers installation and are

important in emphasising the tone of his work.

Paul Klee, Hammamet With Mosque, Watercolour, 20x17cm, Heinz Berggruen Paris, 1914.

The aesthetic richness of the imagery of Scheffers work reflects the enhanced

sensory experience of Enos recording. The presence of the music and the

subsequent video is acknowledged, but is not over bearing. This is achieved

through the pace of the installations, the repetitive nature of the dialogue and the

ephemeral, floating feeling of the elements of the pieces. Eno referred to the

ideology of Cage in his development of the ambient music style, (which heightens

the awareness of the surrounding environment of the listener). Scheffer also

sources the workings of Cage as an influence, in particular his experiments with

the Chinese philosophy of chance.12 The out-of-focus shooting techniques, use of

12Ibid.


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overexposed stills and the randomness of the editing of the Music for Airports

video is evidence of these ideologies flowing through from the visual imagery to

the recording.

The relationship that is formed between these two works begins with the music.The tones of the recording seem to shape the visual components of the

installation. A hum of a note is reflected in the movement or change of a form in

the video. This interaction is humble and complimentary on Scheffers part with

the visual elements seemingly playing the supporting role and is perhaps a subtle

acknowledgment on the importance of Enos composition. To the majority of

people, this is primarily a visual world, with sight being the forerunner over

sound. It seems that Scheffer has perhaps placed a deliberate emphasis on the

sound of the works to be the more significant element. Enos recording seems to

shape of the surrounding atmosphere of the viewer. The musical tones soak into

the audiences subconscious creating a relaxed spatial mindscape. Through this

process the senses are awakened and the installation then becomes the point of

focus, as if it is the visual release to these feelings. The stills of the video gently

floats through the space to the viewer in a nonchalant manner that allows one to

absorb the images at their own pace and to the level of detail in which they

please. The presence of the sound and images are, as Eno describes, tints

filtering through the environment.13

Both artists created the works with the intention of them being displayed in

public places, enhancing the environment and not becoming overbearing objects

within the space. This approach is evident in the Music for Airports recording and

installation. As I sit in the bar, the works do not demand attention, rather they

allow me to choose how and when I want to view and respond to the pieces. I do

feel a sense of calmness and positivity (which, I should add, could be the result of

the glass of wine) or perhaps not. Why these two pieces seem to promote a

feeling of relaxation could be due to their non-confrontational aesthetics and the

pace of the works. The elongated tones of the recording, matched by the

exaggerated fading and changing of forms in the video piece does allow one to

approach the surroundings in a slower manner and provides an enhanced

sensory experience.

Exhibiting the works in the caf bar area of the venue challenges the static

containment of the white cube gallery space and creates a dialogue between the

work and the information in the space. This provides a different viewing

experience and interaction with the pieces for the audience. The installation

achieves a heightened sense of dimensionality in this environment, which can be

described as creating an augmented space. In his text, The Poetics of Augmented

13Brian Eno, Ambient Music,www.music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/MFA-txt.html
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Space: Learning from Prada, Lev Manovich coins the term augmented space to

illustrate the act of placing the viewer inside a space filled with contextual data

and the viewer then interacting and adding to the landscape.14 The Music for

Airports installations encourage the audience to physically become a part of the

space in order to read the data, which in this case is the relationship between theimagery and the recording. Their understanding is affected by the variable

environment of the bar, which can be seen as another layer of information being

added to the space. The reading of the interaction between the works and the

space by the audience adds another layer of information, which perhaps is an

emotional response rather than a physical addition of data.

Whether or not the sound and video pieces provide a full sense of a three-

dimensional experience, which Manovich views as the future of the white gallery

space, is questionable. He refers to works by artists such as Janet Cardiff and

analyses her audio walks in which, he argues, is primarily a three-dimensional

path and does not create a complete 3-D data space.15 This could also be said of

the Music for Airports installations. The manner in which the imagery and the

soundscape acts as a frame surrounding the space and enticing the audience in to

this area to view the pieces, does work in a three-dimensional sense. But the

projection of Scheffers video on to a screen that has the rough dimensions of 2 x

3 metres is only a two-dimensional imprint and lacks a further level of spatial

relationship with the audience. The relationship between the soundscape data

and the audience is received in a 3-D space.

Though Enos recording doesnt offer any direct involvementwith the audience,

so in that sense it could also be referred to as a three-dimensional path. These

points do not detract away from the success of the strong dialogue between the

sound and visual landscape and the varying readings of the works affected by the

caf bar context. Exhibiting these pieces in this public area does enhance the

viewers awareness of the environment, though the relationship between the

data and audience in the space could be increased. Perhaps this is the next step in

the expansion of the white cube.

14The Poetics of Augmented Space: Learning from Prada,www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.doc

15Ibid.
http://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.doc


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1. Ambient 1: Music for Airports,Must Hear Reviews,

www.musthear.com/reviews/musicforairports.html(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 16.15).

2. Article, The Poetics of Augmented Space: Learning from Prada,Lev Manovich,

www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.doc

(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 15.48).

3. Bolter, Jay David, Remediation: Understanding New Media, Cambridge andLondon: The MIT Press, 2000.

4. Brian Eno, Ambient Music,Music for Airports Liner Notes,

www.music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/MFA-txt.html

(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 14.30).

5. Cage, John, The Future of Music: Credo, Sound by Artists, edited DanLarder and Micah Lexier, Canada: Art Metropole, 1990. 15-19.

6. Eno, Brian,Ambient 1: Music for Airports, England: Virgin EG Records Ltd.,1978.

7. Frank Scheffer,Mode Records,

www.moderecords.com/profiles/frankscheffer.html

(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 13.00).

8. Grohmann, Will, Klee, London: Thames and Hudson, 1987.9. History of Ambient Music,

Ambient Music Guide,

www.ambientmusicguide.com/pages/history.php

(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 15.13).

10.John Cage,Classical Music Page,

www.w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/cage.html

(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 12.32).
http://www.musthear.com/reviews/musicforairports.htmlhttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/MFA-txt.htmlhttp://www.moderecords.com/profiles/frankscheffer.htmlhttp://www.ambientmusicguide.com/pages/history.phphttp://www.w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/cage.htmlhttp://www.w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/cage.htmlhttp://www.ambientmusicguide.com/pages/history.phphttp://www.moderecords.com/profiles/frankscheffer.htmlhttp://www.music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/MFA-txt.htmlhttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.manovich.net/DOCS/augmented_space.dochttp://www.musthear.com/reviews/musicforairports.html


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11.Kandinsky in Munich: 1896-1914, New York: The Solomon R. GuggenheimFoundation, 1982.

12.Manovich, Lev, Kratky, Andreas, Absences, Soft Cinema Navigating theDatabase, DVD recording, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2005.

13.Performing Arts, Music for Airports,Ideale Audience International,

www.ideale-audience.com/site/contemporary.236.0.html

(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 14.20).

14.Remembrance and the Moving Image, edited by Ross Gibson, Melbourne:Australian Centre for the Moving Image, 2003.

15.Remembrance Exhibition, Frank Scheffer,Australian Centre for Moving Image,

www.acmi.net.au/remembrance/r2/frank_scheffer/artist_fs.html

(Accessed: 24.09.06 at 13.30).

16.Rush, Michael, Media and Performance, New Media of the Late 20thCentury Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1999, 36-75.
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Image and Sound and the Space in-Between