. THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES THURSDAY,OCTOBER 14,2010 | 13 special report

An artist whose work ‘sounds like stars’

among the new generation of artists ex- Susan Philipsz is first perimenting with sound and questions in specialty to receive those who use more industrial noises. ‘‘I try to keep my art as human as pos- Turner Prize nomination sible,’’ she said. ‘‘I use my voice because it is both pervasive and subtle. It is also BY GEMMA HALSEY universal. Everyone canidentify with a human voice, especially one that is un- Human yet ethereal; soothing yet mel- trained.’’ ancholy; invisible yet strangely physic- While she is knowledgeable about al: The work of Susan Philipsz is contra- sound arts’ heritage —including the pi- dictory, to say the least. oneering electronic compositions of ‘‘I’m interested in altering people’s John Cage in the 1950s and ’60s —and is perceptions of themselves in agiven grateful that it is has become moreac- space,’’ said Ms.Philipsz, an artist cepted among established art forms, whose work requires us not to look but Ms. Philipsz said she actually identified to listen. Sound art uses anything from more with visual artists. radio waves to classical violins to create ‘‘Having specialized in sculpture, it installations that are often presented in was the physicality of singing that led me outdoor public spaces. to think about sound as a sculptural form ‘‘I want my work to evokefeelings of —what happens when youproject your absence and longing in a way that helps voice out into space and what happens si- the audience reconnect with their own multaneously to your inner-body space. It is often the architectureofasite which ‘‘I try to keep my art as human as possible. I use is important to my initial response.’’ my voice because it is both pervasive and subtle.’’ Thework nominated for the Turner Prize, the sound installation ‘‘Low- lands,’’ was originally commissioned for memories and emotions,’’ she said by the GlasgowInternational Festivalof telephone. ‘‘Someone once said to me Visual Art. It wascomposed of record- that my work sounded like stars.’’ ings of the artist singing the 16th-centu- Ms.Philipsz, who wasborn in Glas- ry Anglo-Scottish lament ‘‘Lowlands gow, is one of four artists nominated for Away,’’ playedsimultaneously under the 2010 Turner Prize, which is to be three different bridges that span the presented in London on Dec. 6. She is in . the first artist specializing in sound to She considered the site aperfect new have been nominated for the award. home for the piece, which was originally The artist focused on a more tradition- conceived for the Isabella Bortolozzi al medium —sculpture —when work- Gallery in for a second solo show Susan Philipsz, ing on a master’s degree in fine arts at of her work there, in 2008. She was in- born in Glasgow, the Universityof Ulster in Belfast. She JULIAN ABRAMS (LEFT); EOGHAN MCTIGUE, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TANYA BONAKDAR GALLERY, NEW YORK (ABOVE) spired by the gallery’s location over- is one of four had already begun to experiment with looking the Landwehr Canal, where the Ms. Philipsz was artists nominated sound when she movedto Berlin in 2001 to open in December at the Museum of singing overlapping versions of 16th- offensive, singing voice, played in weird body of the antiwarrevolutionary Rosa to take up residency at the Kunst-Werke Contemporary Art in Chicago, and is century folksongs, or madrigals, at dif- nominated for and wonderful locations, like a Tesco su- Luxemburg floated for months in 1918 for the 2010 award. Institute. Since then, she has estab- preparing ayearlong project for the ferent spots around the financial district. ‘‘Lowlands,’’ in permarket in Manchester, Helsinki Cen- after her murder by defenders of the lished an international career,with Brodno SculpturePark in Warsaw, the While she says she appreciates the which recordings tral Station or the Acropolis. Weimar Republic. worksin the permanent collections of associated public art venue of the city’s clarity and simplicity of indoor exhibition Helen Little, who has been curating The artist’s gallery space at the Tate of her singing are the Guggenheim in New York, the Walk- new building, spaces, Ms. Philipsz’s real love is work in the Turner Prize exhibition for three Britain museum is bereft of Glaswegian er Art Center in Minneapolis and the due to open in the fall of 2015. outdoor public spaces. It is far from the played simulta- years, says sound art has come a long bridges. But she remains unfazed by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, In addition to the Frieze fair and an ex- origins of sound art, which are usually neously under way since its peak in 1950s and 1960s. difficulties of translating awork from to name a few. She took part in the hibition of the Turner nominees’ work in traced to the Futurists (notably Luigi three bridges that She sees Ms. Philipsz’sinclusion in the gallery to public space and back again. fourth Berlin Biennale in 2006 and the London, which opened this month, she is Russolo, whose mechanical boxes emit- span the River competition as a sign of the dissolution ‘‘I want to draw attention to apartic- Münster Sculpture Project in 2007. also showing her first major piece in the ted scrapes and scratches). Those early Clyde in Glasgow. of artistic genres, and of popular cul- ular space, true, but what is integral is But lately her career has been in over- city. The work, ‘‘Surround Me,’’ was works used industrial noise to explore ture’s appetite for experimentation. howthe work comes together as a drive.Her work ‘‘Shallow Sea’’ is being commissioned by Artangel, which is co- the boundaries of spatial experience. ‘‘Sound is ubiquitous and penetrating, whole,’’ she said. ‘‘I love the element of shown by the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery financed by the Arts Council England, Ms. Philipsz’s installations, in con- defined by the indefinable, exciting and surprise in ‘the real world’for the casu- at the Frieze Art Fair in London this and runs every weekend until Jan. 2. It is trast, are melodic and understated. fluid,’’ Ms. Little said. ‘‘It can be more of al passer-by, but for those waiting in an- week. She is working on her next solo made up of a‘‘constellation’’ of installa- Many consist of simple a cappella re- a physical experience than looking.’’ ticipation in agallery, the silence in be- exhibition, ‘‘We Shall Be All,’’ scheduled tions, featuring recordings of the artist cordings of the artist’s untrained, but in- Ms. Philipsz is hesitant to be classified tween all becomes a part of it.’’ An exhibition in need of a map

POZNAN, POLAND states that joined the E.U. were former Lithuanian artist Ola Lewin, is a mirror Communist countries —and in 2007, image of her apartment in Berlin. Via a when Romania and Bulgaria were inte- live Skype hook-up, she greets visitors ‘Erased Walls’ intrigues grated. Mr. Kowalewski’s idea came and invites them to discuss modern but wanders aimlessly in from a sign found at the Apartheid Mu- modes of communication. seum in Johannesburg. In Grupa 4’s‘‘The Death of the Son of defining Eastern Europe Marek Kvetan of Slovakia also ex- a Bitch’’ (2009), the Poznan collective of plores this European theme with his three artists has taken the front bump- BY GINANNE BROWNELL ‘‘On That Place of Ours’’ (2007) installa- er of an aging BMW and, with a loud- tion. The artist used a computer pro- speaker roaring the sounds of a revved- The premise of the exhibition ‘‘Erased gram to create a color that combined the up engine, plays with the regional ste- Walls,’’ being held during the Mediations colors of the Czech and Slovak flags to reotype of rampant consumerism. Biennale here until Oct. 30, is laudable. create a sickly-sweet pink that he then The piece reflects a viewpoint put Instead of looking back at the art ex- painted on a wall. The paint buckets, left forth by many of the artists in the ecuted in Central and Eastern Europe on the floor, are covered with dictionary show: that democracy may have before 1989 —the focus of many recent definitions of each country and their brought many rewards, but it brought shows, including one this year at the state flags. Mr. Kvetan seems to be com- its share of problems as well. Pompidou Center — ‘‘Erased Walls’’ is menting on the still-strong cross-pollin- Despite its shortcomings, the exhibi- touted as exploring art from the region ation between the two republics that tion does highlight for a wider audience since 2000, in geopolitical, economic, cul- once made up Czechoslovakia. issues that artists from Central and tural and artistic contexts. Another thought-provoking piece in Eastern Europe —whatever that While ‘‘Erased Walls’’ includes some the exhibition takes on an entirely dif- means —are grappling with in the 21st interesting pieces that do explore these ferent theme, questioning the changes century. issues, it falls short of its desired goal. brought by technology since the fall of The most glaring problem with the the Wall. ‘‘HomeNet ...TV’’ (2010), an Erased Walls. Zamek Cultural Center, exhibition is that there is no coherent installation by the Berlin-based Poznan, Poland. Through Oct. 30. definition of what ‘‘Central and Eastern Europe’’ means in the 21st century. (The show is running simultaneously at the ConcentArt Gallery in Berlin with different works, moves to Bratislava, Slovakia, next month, and then reopens in Berlin with many of the same works in February.) In political and economic circles, there are varying interpretations as to what countries even make up the re- gion. Does it include countries of the former Yugoslavia, for example, or even European Russia? But ‘‘Erased Walls’’ refuses to address the debate. ‘‘I wanted to give a chance for curat- ors from across the region to speak of things that moved them,’’ said Tomek Wendland, the director of the biennale, when asked to explain the lack of con- textual background. He said that the eight selected curators ‘‘each have offered their own perspective.’’ That in itself may have muddied the waters. Some theorists argue that ‘‘Central and Eastern Europe’’ — a term for what used to be known simply as Eastern Europe —exists now only as a historical and geographic con- struct. But nowhere in the catalog nor on any of the few placards is this debate brought out for visitors. Curiously, sev- eral of the artists exhibited are from places like Israel, Canada and Britain, with no explanation as to why their works are included in the show. One of the stronger pieces that does touch on the debate is ‘‘Forbidden’’ (2010) by the Polish artist Pawel Kowalewski. His sign, outside the en- trance of the Zamek Cultural Center, the main exhibition space, reads simply ‘‘Europeans Only.’’ The exclusivity of the European Union is something that was debated and dissected in both 2004 —when eight of the 10 new member