Content as Exploration of Media
A question that often comes up when discussing the work
of new media artists is, why has the artist chosen that
specific media and how does this media relate to the content
of the work? Asking this question about Rebelo's sound
based installation art, I realized that it cannot be addressed
in a typical manner because the media, content, and results
are so closely entwined that one response cannot exist
without considering the other. Pedro's sound based interactive
installation art is an exploration of how new media can
complement not "replace the 'fixed' art-object through
a configuration of interactions,"13
Through this type of presentation of work, the audience
becomes an active participant. This improvisational interactivity
indeed offers a new relationship to how one traditionally
interacts with and conceives an art-work. For Rebelo his
interests continue to lie in how far can interactive digital
environments be created before new research or ideologies
are created that offer new semiotics or experiences in
how to consider the implications of installation art.
Partial Space is not simply audio installation
research; it represented and is informed by research,
thereby communicating new issues and possibilities surrounding
how to classify and perceive interactive digital medium.
Rebelo states his work as "moving in-between research
and art; perhaps closer to one [or] the other depending
on the work."14
Ultimately Rebelo is "interested in the relationship
between traditional academic research and art practice,
but thinks that we need to be creative in how we approach
this relationship."15
I agree with his sentiments and believe that his work
is effectively blending, morphing and hybriding research
to illustrate other possibilities for how digital medium
can interact within the frameworks of art academic theory
and output. Rebelo's concluding words may summarize
his idea best, he states as an artist he is "very
conscious not to create art work as a demonstration
of research, nor does [he] [want research] to be an
accreditation mechanism [for art] work."16
He adds, "they exist in parallel and some times
they touch each other."17
An Age of International Art?
As evidenced by internet search, the sonic arts are
an immensely well funded and dynamic field of research
in the UK, where one finds many institutions dedicated
to its production, promotion and research. For example,
sonic arts programs are available at the Middlesex University
in London18, Queens
University of Belfast19
(where Rebelo works), and there is a program for sonic
arts at the University of Central Lancashire20
, among many other academic and private institutes.
In Belfast, Rebelo is not alone. In the last five years,
interest in new media has grown greatly in the city
with a number of festivals and organizations geared
directly toward the promotion of the sonic arts. One
such festival is the Sonorities Festival, hosted by
the Sonic Arts Research Centre emphasising cross-disciplinary
work containing an elements of sound/music. Another
festival is the Vis-Sonic, an event dedicated to new
media presenting both local and international artists
in a range of media. Various organisations in Belfast
are demonstrating a strong interest in promoting street
art which can reach cross-community environments. According
to Rebelo, there is a festival culture pervasive in
Belfast, which continues to support the display of the
multifaceted and non-traditional artistic practices.21
With such solid interest and focus on the sonic arts
in the UK, local audiences have a broader vocabulary
from which to comprehend and appreciate it unlike North
America, particularly on the west coast where there
seems to be a lack of knowledge or vocabulary available
to describe sound-based artwork. As such, a North American
audience may encounter limitation in describing sonic
work. Such constraints do not impact Rebelo's artwork
as it is rarely meant to function beyond the local.
Rebelo believes that "we are not living in an age
of international art."22
He states, "[a]n Interesting, perhaps ironic, by-product
of increased world communication and travel, has been
that intrinsically local activities become much more
meaningful than universal ones."23
When creating art, Rebelo always considers the receiving
geography and social context in which the work will
be displayed and tries to develop an association between
these two factors24.
Hence, given these factors it could be argued that all
of Rebelo's work is site-specific, as it is only fully
realized while functioning in its intended environment.
Relational Placement
Pedro's sound based installation work is informed
by work such as Ed Osborn's Last Call (1995), Jeffery
Shaw's The Legible City (1988-91), Shaw's Configuring
the Cave (1996), Alvin Lucier's I am Sitting in a Room
(1995), and Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed
(1988) among others.25
In Rebelo's essay, "Performing Space" he
discusses Boal's, Theatre of the Oppressed and how it
frees the theatre audience enabling each to become actors
in the spectacle and active participants in its delivery.
The devices used in Partial Space are similar
to those employed. In Theatre of the Oppressed; however,
Boal has set up situations wherein the audience are
compelled to intervene in what is happening on stage.
Rebelo points out that this "process of combining
pre-determined content with space for "user-intervention"
has perhaps not yet fully matured in the context of
digital environments," therefore it seems Partial
Space is an attempt to bring this strategy into
the area of interactive sound installation. 26
Footnotes:
13 Rebelo, Pedro.
(2003). Performing Space. Organized Sound, 8.2, 181-186
14 Rebelo, Pedro. Email correspondence interview March 20 2005
15 ibid
16 ibid
17 Ribid
18 Sonic Arts, April
12 2005, http://www.sonic.mdx.ac.uk/index.html
19 Sonic Arts Research
Centre, April 12 2005, http://www.sarc.qub.ac.uk/.
20 Department
of Art and Fashion, April 12 2005,
21 Rebelo, Pedro. Email correspondence interview March 20 2005
22 ibid
23 ibid
24 ibid
25 Rebelo, Pedro. (2003). Performing Space. Organized Sound, 8.2, 181-186.
26 ibid
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