Zimoun : Sound Sculptures & Installations | Compilation Video V1.7 from ZIMOUN VIDEO ARCHIVE on Vimeo.
I have a fascination with objects that contains a sound, and the power of that sound. I'm not talking about the way a CD has information encoded on it, but a more mechanical process -- like a music box. A seemingly simple device that somehow produces the invisible, untouchable experience of sound and music.
My interest began with the now hipster-ubiquitous Buddhamachine by FM3. This was more than just a music box, it was an entire album on a weird little toy that didn't work quite right no matter what I did. My mind whirred at the symbolic possibilities inherent with a "god machine" or the pre-recorded looping Buddhist prayer boxes the Buddha Machine imitates.
The sounds created by Zimoun's little machines and the strange images the installation creates take it one step further. While watching these, it's fun to close your eyes and listen. Do I hear water falling on a roof? Manic typewriting? Ball bearings falling down cement stairs in an empty parking garage at 11pm? Maybe the footsteps you heard in the New York subway the first time you visited that city. Then open your eyes and see hundreds of little solonoids connected to rubber balls, beating on a pane of glass. It's such a delightful experience to have natural and even personal sounds being created by such starkly mechanical devices.
And of course, sound connects to memory. That connection turns these devices and music boxes into little capsules of human memory and experience. That these creations become almost like externalized human memory and thought is another topic that really gets me thinkin'. It's something I've been toying with for a long time, and seeing this video has got me motivated to (hopefully) start working on it soon.
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