​

1:33 mins. Stereo.

Commisioned by ilyd.nu in 2016.

Released as a lathe cut edition in riso printed booklet by Aventures Ltd. in 2019.

 

Credits:

Voices: Natalie Price Hafslund and Benjamin Cosmo Westoby

Music: Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

​

 -

 

Taking an outset in the fundamental physics of pendulums and kinetics, Martha Hviid explores the relationship between sound, motion and play. Sound is movement – not just as vibrations on our eardrums, but also as a force in the universe that vibrates in all matter.

What is the role of the static, non-sounding wave of the pendulum, which correlates directly to the movement of the sine wave, yet is removed from it?
Sitting on a swing is an almost universal activity, which at its core invokes equal measures of joy, fear and a visceral understanding of causation. What child didn’t want to swing as high as they could? Further and further off the ground – perhaps hoping to reach the top and go full circle around and around? We feel this zero-moment at the very top – at the apex of our upward motion just before we’re pulled back down again.

Sound waves mirror this motion as the energy of a sine wave pushes and pulls – compresses and decompresses. Yet when on the swing the very real fear of losing control and falling off kicks in. Being weightless, floating and suspended in mid-air is an alluring thought, but when on the swing you cannot escape the laws of physics.

Through recorded voices this piece investigates the poetics of science, and how sound and movement impact each other.
http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/fdscontent/uscompanion/us/static/companion.websites/9780199922963/images/SineAnimation.gif

​

Tobias Linnemann Ewé is a Danish writer and curator. He is currently working on his PhD ”Expanding the Limits of Sound (Art)” at University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

​