The Sound Art page
Lucier's Music on a Long Thin Wire is the most well-known example of a long string instrument. It is a different implementation than the one described above. Instead of being excited via rubbing the string with hands or other objects, the string (necessarily metal wire) is placed between the poles of a magnet, causing it to oscillate as the polarity of the magnet changes. Different harmonics can be excited by different positions and frequencies of the magnet. Lucier's score calls for performers to "... design musical performances consisting of a series of any number of phrases which explore the acoustic properties of a single vibrating wire." (Lucier and Simon, p160) Two important artists working with this medium should be discussed in greater detail, because their work embraces broader compositional and technical concept, bringing the long string instrument to new technical and conceptual levels. Paul Panhuysen and Johan Goedhart have been creating site-specific installations for many years, with a body of over 40 different works. The work developed out of an invitation to do an installation in a particular space. Their response to the space was to highlight aspects of the architecture with strings. Panhuysen talks about this method of working: "A space always evokes a statement in me. There's always a dialogue. Sometimes a space is so beautiful that I just want to pay tribute to it, just want to emphasize its structure. Sometimes we like to change the idea of a space ... " (Van Peer, p. 133)
Their first long string instrument was an installation in Mainz. When invited to make a work for the hall, Panhuysen and Goedhart wanted to create something which would employ the specific architectural and atmospheric qualities of the hall. "We wanted to make an artwork from the entire space using as few means and interventions as possible, a drawing in three dimensions, and we chose steel strings, known as 'Swedish music wire' for our drawing material." (Panhuysen, p. 2) The inclusion of sound into the work was gradual, beginning with the chosen strings. Later, they found that "the strings seemed to be better visible when they were sounded." With the decision that sound should be a part of this environment, they began working with resonators and amplifiers for the hall. When they were finished, "The space itself became a huge instrument whose sound fitted the atmosphere of the building." (Panhuysen, p. 2)
Since then, Panhuysen and Goedhart have created over 40 string installations in the past 10 years. In each installation new technical features are included. The have experimented with many kinds of string, and various forms of electret and piezo-electric pickups for electronically amplifying sounds. They have incorporated various musical instruments into their installations, including guitars and a piano suspended via strings in their "Hommage to Franz Liszt". They have worked mostly with justly tuned strings.
An interesting feature of Panhuysen and Goedhart's work is that it does not continually generate sound. It exists as an instrument, silent until played by a person. In this manner it requires, and possibly invites action on the part of the viewer. The potentiality of sound exerts a force on the space. When the instrument is inactive it can still be appreciated for it's form, it's beauty; the existence of multiple states of the instrument broadens its possibilities. The different states have different energies, as the still life has different energies than the action drawing, which play off each other. When silent it sits like an inverted shadow, augmenting or outlining the architectural lines of the space. Or it looks like it's in repose, in an 'unnatural' stasis. When played, the room vibrates with the sound of the strings, which visually thicken when vibrating, producing a sort of glow. The performances intensify what was already there.
These performances are long, through-composed works incorporating the harmonic-rich sounds of the strings with the explosive sounds possible by "overdriving" the strings, causing them to vibrate against the tiny transducers which pickup the sounds and connect to amplifiers. The Macunias Ensemble, named after George Macunias, the founder of Fluxus, specializes in improvisation on Panhuysen and Goedhart's installations. They include their sparse instrumentation ('cello and voice) in the works composed for the installations. Other concerts on the instruments have been performed by dancers as well, choreographing the actions of playing the strings and movements between the strings.
This inclusion of so many 'genres' of art into one body of work seems unforced here. It is a natural direction of Panhuysen and Goedhart's working with space, and watever occupies that space. Arnold Dreyblatt, a German music reviewer discussed one of their works in Berlin: "At performances of these 'String Installations', it is often difficult to tell if the audience is 'in' the installation or is looking 'at' it; whether the performers are playing 'on' a string 'instrument' or are performing 'in' it. If the long strings are 'binding' the walls, columns, floors and ceilings together, where does the instrument end and the room begin? One often has the sensation of standing within the resonating box of a giant stringed instrument." (from Long String Instruments, liner notes).
An inspiring feature of Panhuysen and Goedhart's work is that it has evolved by acts of inclusion. Beginning with a purely spatial installation, they included sound because it directly coincided with their approach to outlining and exploring spaces. The inclusion of sound led to the inclusion of performances of music, due to the nature of sound production with which they were dealing. The inclusion of performance finally led to the inclusion of performed movement, or dance. What is important to note is that while Panhuysen and Goedhart have certainly created a hybrid form of art, their work does not fit any one genre, they have not excluded those genre's from their work. The long string installation at Mainz had multiple states; those states could be as an art installation, musical performance space and dance performance space. Panhuysen and Goedhart have not insisted on remaining boxed out of these arts, they have refused to be hemmed in by them.