John Wynne

Installation no 2 for high and low frequencies

Installation, Angus-Hughes Gallery, London, 2012
Installation view

This is the 2nd in a series of installations for high and low frequencies: see also Installation no 1 and Installation no 3. Curated by Richard Ducker, it was made for Angus-Hughes Gallery, London.

"This work appears as the physical projection of an otherwise concealed, yet primary force that underlies the activity of listening – not only spatially but also culturally and temporally.... Frequencies are perceived here as a hidden yet founding element of everyday life: like the change of light during the day, the flow of water, the shifts in the weather. And yet this is not a demonstration of acoustic laws: it puts each listener in a heightened relationship with the aural phenomena and inevitably – like all the forms of sound-making focused on the environment, on the passing and reverberations of time – it prompts deep considerations on how we relate to what moves us and in spite of us; to the shape of what we hear, to how this shape changes and melts with the everyday, how it anchors each listener to the here and now of their listening. Rooted in timeless physical laws, this work nonetheless gains resonance in the contingent, changing laws of individual perception."

Daniela Cascella, Frieze Magazine
Recording of the installation

Note: you will not hear the lowest frequencies; some of what you hear here are effects of low frequency vibrations on the building.

[Wynne's installation practice] "captures the inherent promiscuity of sound to cross over between inside and outside environments, ultimately creating a sense of immediacy and also intrusion. Wynne subtly underscores how sound and listening may create points of unexpected contact, sudden awareness, and charmed resonance, to undo the lines between what we imagine as public and private. His [work] delivers a considered noise that puts disparate elements into ambient conversation."

Brandon LaBelle, Journal of Visual Culture Installation view 2

"John Wynne's installation has the elegance and subtlety I've come to expect from his work, but as a listening experience some moments are pretty damn intense. It's very physical, as if the room's air is being corrugated while you wait. An aureole of twinkling glitter, and then silence returns. Or rather the Lower Clapton Road, home to a hundred bus routes, reasserts its constant urban racket. At first this traffic noise is a distracting background, but after a few minutes' listening it sinks back into a natural role within the piece itself."

Clive Bell, The Wire Magazine Installation view 3