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Lorella Abenavoli’s installation “The Pulse of the Earth” is on display at Pei Ling Chan Gallery through Aug. 12.
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7/6/2007  Sound exhibition strikes ‘Pulse’ with seismic movements Through Aug. 12, entering the Pei Ling Chan Gallery, 322 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., is like entering a cave — literally. The quaking and sometimes soothing sounds in the installation “The Pulse of the Earth” by Lorella Abenavoli are meant to evoke a haunting subterranean experience — and do so with a blend of high-tech equipment and limited but effective aesthetic flourishes. The gallery — which is bare except for pulsing lights timed to match the enigmatic audio stirrings, a square bench in the center of the room and translucent drapery surrounding viewers — takes a few moments to adjust to. The kinetic light bulbs that emit a faint glow are activated by seismic activity at specific points throughout the world including Japan, Alaska and Chile, among others. Each light fixture is labelled with specific coordinates where the readings are taken, and each lights up in turn. Viewers can explore locations by moving around the room as each position is activated. Additionally, the central bench located in the room, also indicating latitude and longitude points, serves as a resting place and provides an interactive experience as it vibrates and shimmies along with the audible quakes, crashes and ambience. “The original idea of this sculpture was to create a sound space, a large-scale permanent work, an object pulsating in time that would bring the deepest recesses of the earth in order to hear them,” said Abenavoli in her artist statement. She explained that electronic seismometers, hypersensitive captors, record not only seismic waves but also the more subtle internal movements of the earth. This record reveals a continuous underground activity. “With digital technology and the development of specialized software for this project, very low frequency waves have been made audible. The movement represented by these frequencies is the artistic matter of this work,” said Abenavoli. A sound sculptor and a teacher of environmental design, she divides her time between Paris, France, and Montreal, Canada. She began her studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Douai in northern France, in an experimental department that enabled students to combine art and science projects. In 1996 she began a major sound art project titled “Le Souffle de la Terre/The Pulse of the Earth.” Directing this trans-disciplinary project, she has worked with a geophysicist and computer and acoustic engineers. She co-developed the software in partnership with the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and the Université Technology of Compiègne in France, and was awarded grants for this project from the Daniel Langlois Foundation, Montreal; the French Ministry of Culture; and the Studio National des Arts Contemporains du Fresnoy, France. Abenavoli is working on two new sound projects. The first one, titled “Le son de la montée de la sève dans un arbre au printemps, d’un érable/The sound of sap going up inside a tree at springtime, a maple tree …”, is in collaboration with a vegetal biologist. The second, “SILENCES,” was started in December 2005 in collaboration with Nicolas Reeves. A work of poetic sound inspired by the silence of the cosmos, it is slated to be exhibited in Paris this September. By capturing subtle movements and frequencies, sound assists Abenavoli in transforming gallery space into a pulsing, breathing entity, bigger than the walls and the viewers contained within. Article by Ally Hughes, project manager in the communications department
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