Elana Herzog and Michael Schumacher: W(E)AVE
March 11, 2007–August 12, 2007 Exhibition Reception: Sunday, March 11, 2007; 3 to 5 pm
Perhaps the latest work of established sound artist and Julliard musician Michael Schumacher is not the hottest i-tune download, warns The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum’s exhibitions director Richard Klein, but he advises that Schumacher’s contemporary collaboration with up-and-coming visual artist Elana Herzog is worth checking out for music and art enthusiasts alike.
Herzog and Schumacher have collaborated for the first time on an exhibition entitled W(E)AVE that will debut at The Aldrich on Sunday, March 11, 2007. The exhibition reception will be held at The Aldrich located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT, on March 11, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. Round-trip transportation from New York City is available; please call the Museum at 203.438.4519 for reservations.additional images | click to enlarge
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Elana Herzog and Michael Schumacher,W(E)AVE, 2006
Elana Herzog and Michael Schumacher,W(E)AVE (detail), 2006
Elana Herzog and Michael Schumacher,W(E)AVE (detail), 2006
Klein explains, “The exhibition title, W(E)AVE, suggests the shared concerns that both artists explore in their work. Elana Herzog’s primary focus rests on the deconstruction of woven fabrics, such as found bedspreads and carpet, while Michael Schumacher’s dedication is to literally weaving together discrete audio events, comprised of sound waves, in order to emphasize the space in which they are presented.”
Herzog will transform the gallery in which the exhibition will be presented with a series of newly-constructed walls. These walls, and those that line the gallery’s perimeter, will incorporate reinforced gypsum panels, which, when exhibited, are installed flush with the surrounding walls. Found textiles are attached to these panels using thousands of metal staples. Parts of the fabric and the staples are then removed, and sometimes reapplied, leaving a residue of shredded fabric and perforated wall surface in some areas, and densely-stapled and built-up areas elsewhere. The structure of the image is thus generated directly from the weave of the fabric. The progressively dematerialized image, articulated by metal staples and fabric residue, seems to be simultaneously emerging from and disappearing into the wall.
During the period when Herzog was working on many of the panels included in the exhibition, Schumacher visited her studio with his recording equipment. The sounds that Schumacher captured include Herzog stapling, sweeping, and drilling, in addition to her dog Tanner chewing on a piece of wood. Back in his studio, Schumacher incorporated elements from these sounds with synthesized sounds, such as sine tones, and more traditional instrumentation, including piano, cello, and violin. Processed in his computer using Max/MSP software, the sound was organized into eleven discrete channels, in what Schumacher describes as a grid metaphor. Presented on eleven speakers dispersed throughout the space, the composition will evoke a “grid” or weave of audio experience unfolding through time.
The resulting environment created by Herzog and Schumacher will induce both a visceral and thoughtful response from the viewer/listener, where sound plays off visual pattern and materiality merges with the ethereal.Top of page: Elana Herzog and Michael Schumacher, W(E)AVE, 2006
