Harp: Phase 1

Where it’s been.

2006
Alternator gallery.  Kelowna, BC

2005
Forest City gallery.  London, ON
Access.  Vancouver, BC

 

48 Lasers become the “strings” of the harp.  When the beams are plucked a different audio clip is heard (distinct for each string).  The audio clips are of individual phonemes edited from recorded words (the “buh” sound originating from a recording of the word “boy”).  In this case (phase 1) the total sounds encapsulate all of the utterances for English, French, Dutch, and German.

 

Exhibition text  by Philip McCrum.

The meaning of Tewt. 

First I was trying to remember and I thought the name was Loot, but on second thought I wanted it to be Loot but realized it must be Lute. E-mail is sent out – response – ‘I remember it as Toot.’ Then later, ‘ . . . according to this web site it’s Tewt.’ Undeniably, true in illuminated text, spelled and described … alittle mute satyr named Tewt. Of course having begun with such an error I worry that my memory is awry. Fading like in a fog. (Is that too much just a little too much?) Now Tewt, played on a lute basically to warn Hercules or Newton (Half boy half horse) (now an aside – spell check corrects tewt in many ways but two are significant and by that I mean significant in an arbitrary way one is tweet another is newt !?) I also wanted him for my metaphors sake to play a harp so I could call it a liar or is that Lyre. Regardless he is mute. And of course Tewt’s tweets seemed never to be understood by Herc, as Newton called him (is that his name?) but always understood by Newton whose sublimated hatred of Helena Herc’s fiancé was, I felt, poorly developed in the series. (But what if you’re too young or too old to have watched this cartoon?) And I’m slipping away from the laser beam as Cyclops, and targeting device and should I mention invisible strings wouldn’t that be, like, a little embarrassing. I also wanted to bring in my favorite Star Trek episode, the one with the super sophisticated, super smart machine that transported people to other places, what was it called ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’, or something like that. (I mean the machine reminded me of the ‘Harp’ and the harp was like a transporter of some kind or do I mean transponder? Translator. Transposition device. Well I’m sure your smart enough to see where I’m going here. Yes that’s right The Tower of Babel – not the painting by Brugel, although it is a good one but irrelevant, but the Myth. Lets say the myth is the big myth it encompasses all our problems all our western world problems. (If only spell check didn’t reduce us to the standard spelling capacity of 13 year olds) On the top floor, Daedalius, evil nemesis of Herc, inspired by Hephaestus constructs the marvelous set of wings that will soon cause the demise of his only son, Icarus. In the basement the great Poeisis (R.Moody)* creates the great harp ‘Travail’ which when plucked offers the phonetic warning ‘toot sweet’, unfortunately it is heard by an ailing faun, as mort amore mort. The rest is conjecture.

 

*(Coincidentally R.Moody is corrected to remedy)