2002
La Barma 2002
Sound Work Location: Saint Luc, Switzerland, Dimensions: 1.5 x 1.5 meters
Extant: 2002–Present.
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2002
La Barma
“At the outset, I shall make a difference between space (espace) and place (lieu) that delimits a field. A place is the order (of whatever kind) in accord with which elements are distributed in relationships of coexistence. It thus excludes the possibility of two things being in the same location (place). The law of the ‘proper’ rules in the place: the elements taken into consideration are beside one another, each situated in its own ‘proper’ and distinct location, a location it defines. A place is thus an instantaneous configuration of positions, it implies an indication of stability”.
His Place Works (Œuvres de Lieu), Max Neuhaus once stated, create a new place by transforming an existing one, by conferring on it a character. The Sound Work (the generic title the artist uses for all his works) he realized for a private collector in Saint- Luc (Switzerland) embodies this operation of characterization perfectly. First there is a space, a context, a public footpath through an impressive mountain setting. In adding a highly delimited sound field two meters in diameter - at a point on this pathway this point becomes a Place, is qualified as this place. Walking along the path, either unknowingly or expecting this experience, one suddenly feels oneself within the work. Far from being site-specific in an art historical sense, it could be said be 'site-creative'. It is made from its site.
The piece inscribes itself within a series of works Neuhaus has made for exterior, public spaces, from Times Square to the Promenade du Pin in Geneva. These Sound Works address an audience of a new type: a flaneur, wandering through spaces in order to collect these particular experiences.
Lionel Bovier
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