ross whyte

Earth Sounds is a work inspired by the ever-present interactions between the physical body and the land as a metaphor for death and rebirth. As a territory that is both sustaining and destructive, the land and earth have been conceived of – across cultures and through the ages – as a symbol of fertility and transformation. The shifting terrains and tectonic movements of geological landforms express this ever-changing drive towards survival and destruction.

Drawing influence from the conceptual work of the performance artist Anna Mendieta, Earth Sounds explores this co-evolution of life and environment through a series of bodily interactions with soil. Expanding Mendieta’s ephemeral Earth Body actions (1972-85), this new performance works considers the female body as an alternative landscape through which to examine a merging of viscera and terra firma. The performance employs geophones, a special kind of microphone ordinarily used to detect earthquakes, to pick up low frequency reverberation of the immediate environment, including the dancer's movements within the soil.

Please note that during the Earth Sounds performance a small portion of the audience seating area is dedicated to transmitting sub-frequency vibrations via ‘bass shakers’ directly into the sitter’s chair.

Debut performance: 6 Feruary 2016, Sir Ian Wood Building, Robert Gordon University.

Further information here:

https://earthsoundsblog.wordpress.com/