–––––Curious Sound Objects was born out of a desire to establish an outlet for the various interactive sound forms that come out of Cambridge and Somerville in Massachusetts. Curious Sound Objects Vol I took place in the gallery space at Industry Lab, located in Inman Square.
The only prompt was the title of the show, but with several formal requirements including: self contained objects that make sound, hidden electronics (including any computers or mobile devices).
It was the desire to focus the conversation around these works towards intent, narrative, and aesthetics, rather than the functional, that influenced the requirement to hide the components.
The accepted pieces were chosen for their ability to evoke wonder, joy, sensuality, and the fantastical.
We were also fortunate to experience performances from Jason Sanford (of the noise rock group Neptune), Eric Rosenbaum and his Makey Makey Human Synth, Prone (Tim Davidson), and Les Chaises.
There are three works by artists that are unfortunately not in the video, and they need mentioning.
Jeff Lieberman's Reality Delay Delay was a hat that blocked out external sounds, and played them back to the wearer with small varying delays.
Joshua Pablo Rosenstock's Sound Parasite (the soft white tentacled object in the beginning of the video) was a wearable friend that fed off the sounds around it and regurgitated them back, often with humorous results.
And finally, Ian Wojtowicz' Sound Subject was the only piece that didn't produce sound on its own – rather it was a piece of paper with a thousand individual words, and invited several participants to each pick a word to repeat continuously in tandem until they became textures.
Artists in order of appearance:
Zachary Katz / Endless Summer Device
Eric Gunther / A Seated Catalog of Feelings / ericgunther.info
Gerard Patawaran / Synthetic Jaguar / koolteem.com
Alan Argondizza / Birdhouse / argondizza.com
Jason Sanford / Electric Slinky / Neptune_(band)
Noah Vawter / Bass Stick / diydsp.com
Chris Chronopoulos / Triangulation / Chronopoulos
Artists not interviewed:
Jeff Lieberman / Reality Delay Delay / bea.st
Josh Rosenstock / Sound Parasite / joshuarosenstock.com
Ian Wojtowicz / Sound Subject / ianwojtowicz.com
Performances:
Eric Rosenbaum / ericrosenbaum.com
Jason Sanford / neptune-band.com
Tim Davidson / prone1.bandcamp.com
Les Chaises / soundcloud.com/leschaises
Special Thanks:
Brynmore Williams / Video / brynmore.com
Aeronaut Brewery / Intoxicants / aeronautbrewing.com