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Tess Oldfield
Pitch Pipe Choir
Finding Voice
I consider myself an air bender. Synthesizer. Sound sculptor. Through my deep curiosity about the sociological effects of music and our bodies, I have erected, Pitch Pipe Choir, as a tool for my experimental sonic and visual practice. My research shifting between granular and global focus examines the mechanics of the body as well as the cultural contexts that singing occupies. Using technological tools, I have recreated the automated inner workings of the human voice by designing a network of hardware and software resurrecting this complex biological system. As sculptures, they embody the dualities of human and machine, melodic and mechanical sound, utopian and dystopian futures. As instruments, they are convoluted transducers, fluidly switching between analog and digital formats.
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Pitch Pipe Choir
Pitch pipes, compressed air, motors, solenoids, microcontrollers, various mechanical parts, glass, vinyl tubing, steel
12' x 8' x 7'
2023
Within this work, the ensemble of singers is a connective architecture between sound and space presenting sites of public intimacy. Boundaries are traversed as this intimate form of public exhibition activates journeys of memory and projections of the imagination. While investigating patterns in the body through my research, I wanted to capture the sensibility of the haptic in my work. Entering the room, the ensemble has a palpable presence and sparks curiosity about the limits of intimacy between the viewer and the machine. In this transmedial exchange, it is important that the work will inhabit spaces that are sites of collective ritual, mobility, cultural memory and public exhibition. Ultimately this work is about connection to our bodies, to space and our communities. Through performance with the ensemble, I will make interventions in the public space via experimental music composition, installation, and collaborative music and video projects.
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Pitch Pipe Choir: DETAIL
Pitch pipes, compressed air, motors, solenoids, microcontrollers, various mechanical parts, glass, vinyl tubing, steel
12' x 8' x 7'
2023
Image
Pitch Pipe Choir: DETAIL
Pitch pipes, compressed air, motors, solenoids, microcontrollers, various mechanical parts, glass, vinyl tubing, steel
12' x 8' x 7'
2023
Pitch Pipe Choir
Pitch pipes, compressed air, motors, solenoids, microcontrollers, various mechanical parts, glass, vinyl tubing, steel
12' x 8' x 7'
2023
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