Lenses

Performance

Duration 15min

This performance, like the Lenses installation, uses a range of wine glasses to modify sound. It was commissioned for 176 Zabludowicz Collection, a contemporary gallery in a former Methodist church. Jane Dickson, Mel Gough and myself perform the work. We each stand in front of a table of wine glasses. Opposite us on a balcony are three white columns (one facing each player). On each column a set of wine glasses has been mounted, each with a speaker hanging over the rim. The glasses on the players' tables have been tuned with water to match the pitch of the glasses on the columns. The players rub the rims of the glasses to sound them, following a grid-like score. A contact microphone on the players' tables picks up the sound of their glasses and plays it out of the loudspeakers on the column. Because of the tuning, the glasses on the column are encouraged to resonate in response to the sound from the loudspeakers. Directional lighting is used to create shadows around the glasses and players.