“Sonic lnterface 2” by Akitsugu Maebayashi
Title:
- Sonic lnterface 2
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Artist Statement:
‘Sonic Interface‘ is his latest creation, in which a human being experiments with his own sense of hearing, its function having been amplified by technology, which in turn plays the role of an interface between the body and the environment. Equipped with a portable hearing device made of a computer and headphones, the subject is invited to enter and explore the urban jungle. Walking freely through public spaces such as shopping malls, train stations, and underground concourse in which he encounters random sound effects and levels, the subject perceives the sonic environment around him (including his own noises) in a modified sensory ambience.
Three different types of software feed the headphones in sequence: the mosaic of sounds, the amplified delay effects and sounds, which repeat themselves and overlap on each other like a millefuille. The sonic ambience and the space in which the sounds were formed in the past are being remixed in the present. The subject, perceiving a shift between sight and sound finds himself in a new universe and, liberated from unified perception.
According to Jacques Lacan, the defenseless ear is the “only orifice which the field of consciousness cannot shut off”. As an organ closely related to the brain, it not only perceives the ambient sounds but also influences the spatio-temporal perceptions which control our sense of equilibrium. It is obvious that the interposition of technology with such a vital organ will permit an expansion of senses, but might also trigger a sense of destabilisation and confusion. As Friedrich Kittler has noticed: “In our times, when it is technically possible to explode the ear, the story of the ear more and more becomes a story of madness”. Yukiko Shikata, exh. cat. Montreal 1999
