It‘s a relief to hear the rain. It's the sound of billions of drops, all equal, all equally committed to falling, like a sudden outbreak of democracy., 2019
Installation with graze baskets, funnels, recycled objects, water, sound
Dimension variable
with Caroline Ann Baur, Tina Reden, Riikka Tauriainen
Reaktor, Zurich Switzerland, 2019
link to audio
«It‘s a relief to hear the rain. It‘s the sound of billions of drops, all equal, all equally committed to falling,
like a sudden outbreak of democracy. Water, when it hits the ground, instantly becomes a puddle or rivulet or flood» the english writer Alice Oswald continues her poem. From the cloud, just before it hits the ground, a drop becomes singular. What a short life this individuality has, how little different one is from the other, comparing to how much it has in common – especially after turning into a forceful flood. Yet, as a metaphor for within human power relations, the proclaimed flood and outbreak
of real democracy, could never mean simple sameness or harmony.
Collaboratively Caroline Ann Baur, Vanessà Heer, Tina Reden and Riikka Tauriainen developed the waterrelated sound installation which creates organic polyrhythms: partly by chance, partly controlled, the drops form assemblages, which diverge into the arythmic to move into resonance with one another over and over again. But in just as many moments there is no noticeable relation, the relationality returns in
cycles. The drop sounds are gathered in the three oversized graze baskets, harvested,
peeled and woven in collective work: Lost skills of our great-grandparents, relearned D.I.Y.
The installation invokes post-apocalyptic survival imagery, in a arte povera mode, recycled objects from various contexts are gathered to collect the little fluidity coming from the river and going back there. The installation depends on a continous flow of water. A constant involvment is needed in order to keep the cycle up. As much as modern soundtechnology is used, the simple objects like the baskets move slightly away of their assigned functionality. Temporalities between a nostalgic past and a seemingly alternativeless present break open to active forming of our future communities.