Gastric Tones: A Study in Sound

Holmes, Paul

Abstract

In this installation, the artist manipulates the speed and duration of the sounds made by his digestive tract before, during, and after the consumption of a meal. Gordon (1993) discovered hidden performative meaning within moving images subjected to extreme slow-motion. In a similar way, this decelerated work reveals latent sonic gestures. Resembling the calls of animals, the rumble and howl of extreme weather, or the hush and crash of the sea, these tones celebrate the primordial power that is in us all. Acknowledging that power and wealth are functions of speed, (Hauer 2017), the work takes its thematic inspiration from breakthroughs in sustainability, pioneered by the Slow Food movement (Tencati and Zsolnai, 2012), and is an aesthetic rebuttal to global inequality and scarcity in our dromological age. These tones also possess the power to imagine. Their retardation creates rhythmic pulses, punctuated with silence. When the artist’s stomach speaks, a collective imaginary dialogue emerges from these interstices in which we can share our dreams of abundance, and of an end to anxiety and want.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: Cumulus Conference
• Publication Date: 2018
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2021
• Pages: 48-51
• Series Title: Cumulus Conference Proceedings
• Series ISSN: 2490-046X
• Book Title: Letters to the Future: Cumulus Conference Proceedings Bengaluru 2017
• Keywords: sound art; consumption; slow food; digestion
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2657845
• Publisher URL: https://cumulusassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Letters-To-The-Future-1.pdf