Borders
2013
Sound art installation
4 min 54 sec (looping)
Borders is a sound art installation that engages with conceptual principles of Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Concerned with dualities such as inside and outside, light and dark, organic and industrial, Mies van der Rohe strived to find aesthetic truth and harmony for his architectural designs through such contrasts. This is illustrated, for example, by the materials used in the museum: glass and steel alongside wood and marble. Meanwhile, the building's large, transparent windows emphasize a visual dichotomy between inside and outside, blending the museum space with the external environment.
Rather than seek harmony, Borders intentionally creates sonic dissonance by fusing together field recordings from both inside and outside the Neue Nationalgalerie. These tones are juxtaposed together until they create one discordant sound. As for its installation conditions, a speaker should be placed behind a window, ideally outside of an exhibition space. Although the sound will be muffled by glass, an ever-present low hum will infiltrate the acoustic ambience of the exhibition, bringing awareness of the outside inside.
