Julie Freeman: Specious Dialogue III
Title:
- Specious Dialogue III
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Venue(s):
Medium:
- Concrete, steel, castors, wireless speaker system, computer, custom audio software
Artist Statement:
Specious* Dialogue III consists of a pair of movable, sculptural concrete forms that house wireless audio playback systems. Mounted on pairs of swivel castors the forms are designed to be played with – pushed, rolled, kicked and shoved around the exhibition space. They are physical audio curiosities with personality.
The mobility of the work enables the pair of forms that comprise Specious Dialogue to intervene in other artworks, be muffled by a coat, encroach on visitor conversations, or be united in a conspiratorial corner. However they are encountered, they expect to be touched or moved in some way, at the very least they want to be listened to. By enabling this physical interaction with the objects the listener perhaps becomes an unwitting performer moving the sound, catching it, passing it to someone else, changing the sound dynamic in the space.
The pair spew an emotional dialogue, they bicker, coo fragments of love, they shout, scream and whisper, they are lonely lovers or clinging siblings. They miss each other, but also get angry and need their space. These multi-layered, twisted, specious conversations flip between mundanity, humour, drunkenness, apathy, passion, conspiracy and irritation.
The work explores the gap between conversations, and asks what the audience is prepared to fill in. Are we happy to overhear? Can we empathise with a disconnected voice?
* specious – plausible but false; Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious; Deceptively attractive; Apparently good or right though lacking real merit.
