2004
Aural Garden, Proposals for Aural Gardens, 2004

Max Neuhaus Drawings Aural Garden
Pencil and colored pencil on tracing paper, 6 x (21 x 29 cm)

Collection: The Estate of Max Neuhaus

The drawings were made for an "auditory garden" project. It all began with Max Neuhaus's fascination with the sound quality of a variety of pine trees growing in the Bahamas. If the sound of two needles colliding is inaudible, the sonic texture of hundreds of thousands of needles becomes strikingly rich. It is therefore possible to create a work in situ without any technical devices, by rubbing the leaves of different plant species together.

The modelling of sound in space would be determined by the relief of the terrain, with zones where it would be absorbed by vegetation, and others where the rustle of leaves would reverberate on parabolic surfaces. Working on the curves of the terrain helps to focus and project the sound. The aim is to design the landscape - in a discreet, unspectacular way - and not to add sound elements activated by wind or water, as has long been the practice in garden design.

The artist became a landscape and sound designer. One of these gardens was to be set up near a Rotterdam freeway, to serve as a soundproofing wall.