Caroline Devine
"(In) Audible Air", 2023
Site-specific multi-channel sound installation at two locations
Rathauscenter (Saturday and Sunday)
and at (Showcase) at Eierplatz (daily)
Video: Caroline Devine – Visit to Monheim am Rhein
"(In) Audible Air" is a multi-channel sound installation by artist Caroline Devine for two locations in the city centre of Monheim am Rhein. Both are transformed by a sonic intervention. Devine establishes a dialogue between the audible sounds on site and the inaudible signals of nature.
One of these places is the Rathauscenter. There, various sounds of nature, including birds and insects, can be heard through several loudspeakers that will be located in an atrium above the seating area, directing the view to the sky. Sound transducers will also be attached to some of the glass panels in the Rathauscenter. Here, the lapping of the Rhine, regularly displaced by passing container ships, will be heard as well as various natural sounds.
Devine's installation establishes a link between urban and natural space, acoustically reminding visitors of the impact of human activity on nature.
This area offers visitors the rare opportunity to sit in a commercial space without consuming.
The other place is the high-rise building at Eierplatz. There, the artist has activated an empty glass showcase of the Co-Working Space Monheim, which is reminiscent of a shop window. So-called structure-borne sound transducers are installed on the four glass panes of the showcase. Usually, such techniques are used to use a glass like a membrane as a loudspeaker and to draw the attention of passers-by to the visual design of the shop windows. In Devine's installation "(In) Audible Air," however, the display case is empty: visitors are immersed in a visually and materially intangible auditory experience.
Stepping close to the glass, a sound composition can be experienced that consists of normally inaudible but naturally occurring signals. Devine is referring here to the acoustic resonances of the sun and very low frequency (VLF) natural radio signals.
Built as a high-rise residential building for Bayer AG plant employees from 1962 to 1964, it housed over 100 apartments as well as various businesses
Biography
Caroline Devine is from London. She explores the boundaries between sound and music. Her work encompasses electroacoustic composition, sound installation, radio and theater. Her work has been seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, among others, and heard on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Devine has been invited to create commissioned works for London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. She has also been an Artist in Residence and Creative Fellow at the University of Birmingham. She was shortlisted for the BASCA British Composer Award two years in a row for her sound installations "5 Minute Oscillations of the Sun" and "On Air", and in 2020, "On Common Ground" was followed by a nomination for the Ivor Novello Award, the successor to BASCA.
