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a quiet, flexible background for a harmonious life

from schindler house by steve roden

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about

sound sources: voice. window panes. airplane. wooden beam.

my initial audio idea for the schindler house was to build a piece around the singing of schindler’s 1912 text ‘a manifesto’. when i began the project, the presence of my voice seemed too much of a distraction for the space, so i moved on to other things. dealing with the interior of the house was a big problem for me – everything i created seemed too busy and not nearly delicate enough – everything felt intrusive. while i was struggling, i began to think about the voice again. i returned to schindler’s manifesto as a way of letting my thoughts drift, and the last line really struck me in terms of what i was struggling with for the interior space – ‘it will be a quiet, flexible background for a harmonious life.’ i eventually sung this line through a ring modulator and looped it. the voice became a kind of insect-like presence; and thus through abstraction, the sounds of this last line sung over and over again attempt to create this ‘quiet flexible background for a harmonious life’ within the house.

i decided to install the piece with headphones, since even at a very soft volume, the piece was still intrusive of the quiet existing audioscape of the house. i placed two sets of headphones in a small hallway, facing the windows between the rm schindler studio and the pauline schindler studio. the windows face the rear courtyard and trees, and somehow i imagine that the headphones, the sound, and the view through the old wavy glass enable one to drift in and out – hovering between the house and the exterior landscape. along with my ring modulated voice, the piece also includes the sounds of rattling window panes; and the sound of an airplane flying over the house as recorded through a contact microphone attached to wooden ceiling beam.

credits

from schindler house, released January 1, 2002

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steve roden Pasadena, California

steve roden is a visual & sound artist from los angeles,
who pioneered the lowercase style of music; where quiet, usually unheard, sounds are amplified to form complex and rich soundscapes.

his work includes painting, drawing, sculpture, film/video, sound installation, text and performance. ... more

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