recording the Grand Tonometer

Richard Chartier
Transparency (Performance)
LINE_049 (www.lineimprint.com)
CD
Edition of 500
April 12, 2011

In a special live performance in the Ring Auditorium at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC on October 7, 2010, Chartier premiered the first version of a new work: Transparency. This performance was inspired in part by the Hirshhorn’sColorForms exhibit, a collection of works by artists including James Turrell, Fred Sandback, and Olafur Eliasson, showcasing the use of abstract form to explore color’s evocative possibilities, from the purely optical to the metaphysical. Transparency is created from just some of the myriad delicate recordings made during his Fellowship of the Grand Tonometer, other large tuning forks, metal and wooden resonators, and wood organ pipes by Koenig and his contemporaries.

In late 19th-Century Paris, scientific instrument makers like Koenig were still referred to as philosophical instrument makers. It was possible for the public to visit their studios for musical/sound “séances”—gatherings in which the maker’s tools and materials would be presented for experiments and debate. Perhaps Transparency can be seen, in some ways, as a “sound séance” for a digital age.

Transparency (Performance) is intended as the first in a series of upcoming studio and installation works based on Chartier’s Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship recordings.

online is a new podcast interview with Steven Turner and myself conducted by the Hirshhorn’s Ryan Hill.

and don’t forget the free performance “Transparency” at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on October 7

Today was (sadly) the final official day of my Fellowship. Steven Turner and I took three hours unwrapping and re-placing eight rows of tuning forks back onto the Grand Tonometer structure. I got a greater sense of the accomplishment of the “grand” task that I have completed as I we placed them one-by-one. I remember how daunted I was on my first day here.

Afterward Steven also demonstrated for me a chladni plate in action for me. Named after Ernst Chladni, an 18th century German physicist and musician, the Chladni plates one of the early examples of experiments showing that sound was a wave and not a particle. There are many fascinating variants of this device and video examples of patterns online. Look at those particles dance!

Later in the day it was off to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden to meet with Milena Kalinovska and Sara about the planning and technical logistics of my Oct 7 performance at the museum titled Transparency. This will be my first Washington, DC concert since 2006. I will be premiering a new work inspired by the ColorForms exhibit. Transparency utilizes some of the myriad delicate recordings made during my Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.

Ryan Hill at the Hirshhorn is planning a podcast with Steven Turner and I about this project and the upcoming performance in the next few weeks.

It was (and continues to be) a fascinating and fruitful experience. I plan on continuing to work with Steven Turner and the collection. He keeps finding new things for me to explore and record. We plan on visiting offsite storage this Fall and check back for more on that.

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A huge THANK YOU goes out to all involved in making this Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship happen, including Steven Turner, Linn Meyers, Milena Kalinovska, Evelyn Hankins, Stacey Kluck, Minoru Hatanaka, Tony Myatt, Jesse Doris, Soko Hirayama, Bruce Morrison, and all the Fellowships office. And a special thank you to my partner Robert Eckhardt for his support and belief in me, before and during my Fellowship (and of course for setting this blog up!)