NYE+BROWN
JOHANNES GIRARDONI
OFF ON &
NYE+BROWN
JOHANNES GIRARDONI
OFF ON &
Metaspace V2 Sketch
01 Nye+Brown is pleased to announce
Girardoni takes a more sympathetic
Off and On, a solo exhibition with
approach, through the transformation
Johannes Girardoni. This is the
of light waves into sound waves in
artist’s first exhibition with the
his light installations; turning the
gallery. The exhibition opened with a
viewer’s ears into eyes, essentially
private preview on Tuesday, May 21st
augmenting the deficient human eye with
and a public reception on Saturday,
a new partner.
May 25th from 6-8 pm. The show will consist of two Our eyes, consisting of rod and
interactive light and sound
cone cells in the retina allow
installations, inhabiting the east
conscious light perception and vision
and west gallery spaces. Having
including color differentiation and
developed a proprietary process of
the perception of depth. The human
sonification in which he translates
eye can distinguish about ten million
light into sound, Girardoni uses this
colors. This seems impressive until
technology to radically divergent
you consider raptors, such as hawks
ends. Dispersed throughout the daylit
and eagles that have the equivalent of
east gallery, Chromasonic Field-Blue/
night vision seeking the heat of their
Green is a series of semi-translucent
prey, who’s eyes are far superior to
cast resin beams. They are illuminated
the human’s in every way.
from within by high frequency LED’s, projecting artificial light as well as
The Perceptualists like Robert Irwin,
allowing the surrounding natural light
James Turrell and Doug Wheeler
to pass through. The installation is
have, for five decades created art
outfitted with sensors calibrated to
that tests the eye’s limitations,
measure the specific color frequency
strengthening our resolve to an 11th
emanating from the resin as well as
million spectrum of color and spacial
the ambient light. The sensors drive
perception. They have acted as a
a tone generator, which converts
stern wrap on the knuckles like a
the light information to sound,
strict schoolmaster trying to rally a
essentially making light audible.
student’s wandering focus.
These sensors also register the
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Metaspace V2 Plan (left) Chromasonic Field Plan (right)
presence of the viewer moving through
Girardoni was driven to rigorously
the space, which further modulates the
investigate these ideas in his work
sound. The boundaries between natural
after traveling to West Africa. The
and digital phenomena are blurred in a
following is an excerpt from the
field of luminous sound.
artist’s essay in a forthcoming publication Time Space Existence, from
In the west gallery, Metaspace V2 is a
GAAP/Cornerhouse Books.
monumental sculpture in which visitors are invited to enter and participate
Coming back from Mali, I was
in an immersive color-soundscape
continually reminded how our culture
based on the frequencies captured by
is saturated by digital systems. We
embedded sensors. As in Chromasonic
use our phone’s intelligence to get
Field-Blue/Green, the sensors respond
us to the right place. That alone,
to the presence of bodies, creating
has shifted how we understand and
a feedback loop between visitor and
read our environment. The algorithm
work as the environment continually
behind Google searches detects
evolves. A raw aluminum shell provides
behavioral patterns, the sum of
the framework for the sculpture’s
which yields a digital identity
seamless interior, the curvilinear form
that knows more about us than our
scattering the colored light inside.
friends; or worse, more than we know
Girardoni’s Spectro-Sonic Refrequencers
about ourselves. We make decisions
convert the light waves provided by a
based on information provided
lens at the top of the sculpture into
by algorithms. My focus on the
sound vibrations that shift as the
interaction of light and material
light conditions change, which is also
brought me to the idea of reality
effected by movement within the space.
augmentation in art. With the use
Metaspace V2 is a space about space. It
of sensors and tone generators,
challenges our understanding of space
I could use an algorithm to make
and perception, questioning the border
light audible and push the whole
between the organic and the artificial
paradigm of phenomenological art
in our increasingly technologically
into the current context. If we are
dominated existence.
experiencing a work by James Turrell
05 or Robert Irwin, for example, we
light and sound installation The
encounter perception in its purest
(Dis)appearance of Everything was
form. We experience ourselves
included in the 54th Venice Biennale,
sensing. Even now, artists like
Italy. Other selected exhibitions
Olafur Eliasson work with perception
include Personal Structures at the
as the medium itself. The whole
Ludwig Museum, Germany, 30 Years of
history of art culminates there.
Contemporary Art at the California
As with the “death of painting,”
Center for Contemporary Art and
however, there is no end. The
Creative Migration at The Austrian
evolution, and this is where we
Cultural Forum, New York. His works
break with history, is that we are
are represented in public and private
now occupying a cultural condition
collections, such as the Harvard Art
in which we are not the only ones
Museum, The Progressive Collection and
sensing. Artificial perception
The Margulies Collection.
extends our own sensory apparatus at large and creates a new reality. An environment that we sense while it also senses us, and then changes as a result, heralds the end of the supremacy of our perception. This is the new now. Johannes Girardoni was born in Austria in 1967 and emigrated to Southern California in 1982. He received a B.A. from Bowdoin College in History and Art. He also studied at MIT as an invited guest artist at MIT Media Lab. His work has been widely exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. In 2011, Girardoni’s
ME SPA V
ETAACE V2
Metaspace V2 2013 Raw aluminum, fiberglass, resin, LEDs, sensors with Spectro-Sonic Re-frequencer 14 x 9 x 9 feet
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Metaspace V2 Exterior
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Metaspace V2 Exterior
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Metaspace V2 Interior
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Metaspace V2 Interior
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Metaspace V2 Interior
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Metaspace V2 Sensor Projection
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Metaspace V2 Sensor Projection
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Metaspace V2 Sensor Projection
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Metaspace V2 Sensor Projection
CHRO SON FIE
OMANIC ELD Chromasonic Field Blue/Green 2013
Resin, LEDs, aluminum and Spectro-Sonic Re-frequencer
93 x 4 x 3 in. each
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SpectroSonic - Pink 2013 Resin, LEDs, aluminum and Spectro-Sonic Re-frequencer 93 x 4 x 3 in. each
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OFF & PREV
& ON VIEW Nye + Brown
Private Preview May 21, 2013
Photographs courtesy of Eric Swenson
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2685 South La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034 gallery@nyeplusbrown.com 310 559 5215 nyeplusbrown.com — Digital catalog published in conjunction with Johannes Girardoni: Off and On — Photography by Johannes Girardoni Design by Kyle LaMar