BROKEN SOUND
GARY JAMES JOYNES
BROKEN SOUND
2015
Edition of 3
4-Channel Video + 8-Channel Sound Installation
Broken Sound comes from a forensic examination of the speakers silenced by Joynes’ exploration of cymatic sound forms. Using hand built mechanisms and specialized macro photography techniques he has documented the marks and scars of the coiled copper wire and magnetic traumas that have silenced his experiments. Starting as pristine and golden in colour the linear order of wires slowly gives way to charring and chaos as flaws and sonic experience build up. Some of these speakers lived for months and others were silenced within minutes of life. All are memorialized in this emotional film installation and photographic series.
This immersive environment of voice and synthesizer accompanying immense projected HD video is composed with a Buddhist parable in mind:
An acolyte, seeking enlightenment, encounters a stone disc of almost infinite radius spinning silently on its horizontal access, as if falling from the sky. He devotes his life to the continual observation of this wheel, perfect in it’s smoothness and continuity. Foregoing all earthly experiences he hopes to bear witness to the single horizontal imperfection in the wheel. In silence and stillness he waits for a flaw to bring him to a greater state of enlightenment.
Special Thanks for supporting the creation of this work to:
dc3 Art Projects
Canada Council for the Arts
Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Edmonton Arts Council