21-pendulum entropophone
aluminium cans, dowel, concrete, beads, string
dimensions variable
This hybrid sculpture/instrument redeploys discarded aluminium drink cans to create a suspended kinetic-acoustic array that is activated by the simple touch of visitors hands.
The few hundred cans were collected from streets, gutters, parks and planter boxes on my daily walks in inner-city Sydney over a period of about eight weeks. I prepared the hanging tins by cutting away the tops to create cylinders of slightly different lengths; the pendulum bobs are made of smaller tins filled with concrete.
When set in motion, the instrument produces atonal clattering cascades, rhythmic pulses and ephemeral melodic sequences that gradually decay to the silence of equilibrium. Heard from nearby, the sounds are reminiscent of distant moored boats, wandering farm animals, a forest gamelan or temple bells, but if the listener brings their ears close to the hanging cylinders the sound is suddenly experienced as surprisingly rich, resonant and complex.
I am exploring and attempting to emulate the chaotic anima of simple elemental events that universally transfix human attention – flickering fire, water reflected through trees or on a wall, the sound of residual rainwater dripping in a downpipe, wind rustle, birdsong, flocking behaviour.
Gary Warner February 2015