In the 1790s Ernst Chladni used metal plates and fine powder to demonstrate that all matter vibrates. Chladni mounted a metal plate horizontally and dusted it with a fine powder, and then drew a violin bow across the edge of the plate. The sound frequencies produced in this manner by the human hand cause shifting visual images which evoke a hidden communication with the structures of nature. The process itself is reminiscent of dreams and the images evoke memories. In her book Overlay (1983), Lucy Lippard confirms: ‘Art itself may be partially defined as an expression of that moment of tension when human intervention in, or collaboration with, nature is recognized’.
Manually and electronically, Chladni and others after him recorded the complex and perfectly symmetrical patterns of sound frequencies. However, I found the fluctuating energy of the human hand and its transferral of imperfect patterns compelling. Consistent with this interest in process was the period spent doing collaborative work for the Sound Still exhibition mounted under the curatorship of Katherine Glenday at the Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town in 2006. Subsequently I have invited the viewer to draw a violin bow across the plate, thereby increasing the interactivity and collaboration of human with nature. This approach places the onus on energy and interconnectedness and approaches performance art.
