Antennas Theremin
[2017]
The Theremin is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer.
Together with Merle Sibbel I explored making and using the theremin. This resulted in a series of antennas to put through and around the body. Our collection illustrates the weird and intimate role technology plays in our life.
[collaboration] Merle Sibbel
[material] copper, clay, electronic components
[dimensions] 400 x 1000 mm
This antenna, inspired by Blanche, is the first in an experimental antenna collection to be played with the theremin. The antenna, piercing the nipples, has the same paradoxale quality as Blanche. When first played it feels strangly wrong. At the same time it invites to be played a second time, to be exploited.
“As Paul Regnard, a student of Charcot writes“We can cut them, prick them, and burn them, and they feel nothing. Even better these completely numb spots are so poorly irrigated that when we wound them, there is not one drop of blood. The hysterics are very proud of this immunity and amuse themselves by passing long needles through their arms and legs.” In the engraving below, Blanche appears to have been transformed into an object from a flesh and blood woman into a doll.”
// Medical muses, Hysterica in nineteenth century paris by Asti Hustvedt.
Together with Merle Sibbel I explored making and using the theremin. The making of the Theremin was in full collaboration. After this, we followed both individual interests (in my case the link to the Salpêtrière hospital, making the bust and wire antennas). After this we have put them together in a collection of performace (led by Merle).
Antennas Theremin
[2017]
The Theremin is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer. Together with Merle Sibbel I explored making and using the theremin. This resulted in a series of antennas to put through and around the body. Our collection illustrates the weird and intimate role technology plays in our life. [dimensions] 800×1000 mm
Over time perhaps you could see the shift. The dawn of an industrialised civilisation. For a time humankind flourished in their mass-produced utopia. Great tools were built, of a scale easily visible from space. These creatures became enslaved to automatisation. With no need for thinking, their brains grew weaker, and their ability to dream of radical new technologies faded. The magic of these tools got lost in utility, as humans become estranged from the technological landscape surrounding them.
How will they re-insert themselves and reconnect with their tools? Will they start imagining again when they are empowered to understand their tools? Let us take a step back in time and space to obsolete technologies. Is there anything to be gained from resurrecting lost techniques?
