Honestly, I was not planning on having a washing machine theme this week, but after The Drying Green I stumbled upon another piece of sound art which has to do with wet clothes and the sound of washing machines, and this time it is simply called Was.

In the installation, created by Wessel Westerveld and Lydia van de Streek, water keeps on dripping from the wet clothes onto the water on the floor, creating a concert of dripping sounds. The washing machine kicks in now and then, creating a low rumbling sound, and the installation keeps the clothes wet at all times.

I am sorry that I do not have a video of the installation to show you, but on Wessel Westerveld’s website you can read more about his work and watch a few videos of his installations. Happy washing!

When an architect designs a building, or a gallery space gets prepared to exhibit works of art, is the role of sound taken into consideration? What if the art in the exhibition consists of sound installations as opposed to visual arts? In Sound in Context, a short documentary by the Sound and Music organisation, the role of sound within the visual arts world is explored. 

People like David Toop, Richard Whitelaw and Benedict Drew, among others, discuss the invisible nature of this time-based medium we are dealing with here, and how many curators and art experts are not used to it. Another subject they cover is the value of sound art. Can it be sold? In what way? Should an artist give away CDs with recordings of sound installations? A very interesting subject which makes Sound in Context an interesting documentary to watch, apart from the soporific way some of these sound artist tell their story (they are probably not used to be recorded in a visual way).    

One of the projects presented at the Futuresonic festival this week is Akousmaflore by Scenocosme from France. Akousmaflore is a small garden consisting of plants hanging from the ceiling. By touching the plants, or coming very close to them you cause them to produce sound. It’s like an interactive garden.

The sounds come from speakers placed around the room, so it’s not like each plant has its own speaker. This makes the plants like a musical interface rather than an instrument themselves. One of the aims of the project is to bridge the gap between nature and technology. It certainly creates a beautiful image, as you can see in this video: