Jass Kaselaan
29.6.-21.7.13
Kunstihoone Galerii, Tallinn
Sculpture and sound art
The first room is filled with a gigantic submarine-like structure, while the back wall of the second room is covered with a black uneven wall. All is drenched in a loud continuous noise, so strong that the gallery guard needs to wear ear protection. My first thought is that this is what I see, a submarine, and entering the second room I enter the inside of a submarine, with no escape of the motor noise. The metal-plate-like structure on the wall seems to underline this impression. But I am wrong. The large sculpture is in fact a gigantic antenna, achieving the electromagnetic waves of all electronic devices in the environment. What I hear is not the noise of a single vessel under the sea far away from everything else. This is rather the sound of everything.. If these sounds should suddenly stop, we would be in serious trouble. This is the sound of our times, of our society, this is the sound of our god.
In 2008 I had the pleasure of experiencing the Electromagnetic Fountain by Amanda Steggel in Stavanger, a fountain reacting to electromagnetic waves close by. Now I have heard what electromagnetic waves sound like. I am sure the amount of such waves has increased severely since 2008, and the amount is larger in electronified Tallinn than in Stavanger. What I hear feels like noise, but it represents all those handy and all those useless gadgets we love, and it represents the ability to get information and stay connected any time.
