2001
La Napoule, 2001

Max Neuhaus - Site independent sound works and the individual collector 

The new work at La Napoule is a continuation of the direction I began with the work in Venice Biennial in 1999 - a sound work which can be relocated. 

The text panel of its drawing reads: 

Passing along / a walkway / in a formal / garden, / one encounters / a place / with air / of a different / density. 

The work forms a 'place' four by five meters along the main walkway of the formal garden in front of the chateau. It is quite magical. When you walk into it you feel as if you have walked through an invisible wall into a new domain. 

As well as using the underground sound sources I invented for Venice which make the work independent of any physical structure, here I have made the sound itself independent as well, detaching it from the site and making it more present. 

I plan a series individual works where this specific sound is placed in different contexts. Each work will have its own drawing with image and text reflecting the differences resulting from the sound's new aural and visual surround. 

I hope this new form will make it possible for the individual collector to become a commissioner of a sound work of mine for the first time. It, first of all, allows a person to hear the work before deciding to acquire it as well as eliminating the complex on site sound construction phase. Thus, the installation can be accomplished with local manpower - several days of a mason's time and a half day of an electrician's. My personal involvement consists of an initial site visit where, along with the collector, we select the specific location for the work, and then a return trip once its physical installation is complete to fine tune the final sound level. 

These works can be realized in different dimensions depending on the specific site chosen, thus fitting into private scale and reducing price well 

below the one hundred thousand dollar figure that is the minimum for the large scale public works. 

Note

When the collector agrees to cover the local costs of the installation procedure as well as shipping and my travel, the direct costs of the work become fixed and, due to recent technical developments, can now be kept under ten thousand dollars for a realization of a modest scale. 

Max Neuhaus