Silent: A State of Being (2004)
Madrid Abierto Public Sculpture Award, Madrid, Spain, 2004
Cement, steel and plexi-glass | 12’x250’
Placing two noise barriers, normally found along highways to protect suburban residents from sound pollution, together end to end created this work. The two noise barriers were each installed at 15 degree angles but opposite to each other. A steel hinge in the middle linked them together. They thus reflected the sound of the city in different ways – the one angled towards the adjacent boulevard reflected the sound back towards it, while the other angled 115 degrees forced the sound to go above the adjacent park away from the noisy street. Later a sound engineer confirmed these realities. The work was situated in a site with a six-lane avenue bordering its northern dimension. It created a social space of tranquility and relaxation. It reconstituted the ambient acoustic distribution of the sensible as it existed in the urban environment.