MYRIAM DE LAMBERT
Place memory study: The uterus
Place memory study: The uterus
Work undertaken as part of a residence at Avatar, Quebec
Work "Ultrasound" Myriam Lambert Myriam Lambert from we Vimeo.
In the room where the darkness is almost complete, a speaker suspended emits a complex tangle of organic sounds, beats the heart of adults and children, breathing and bowel sounds. A screw glued to the speaker absorbs sound vibrations, and these are transmitted to a canister of water suspended a few inches of the audio device. As one hears the sounds, the waves give a circular motion to the screw, causing a myriad of paths in the water. These oscillations then take liquids architectural dimensions and invade the venue for their bright ideas. Soon, the viewer understands that the sound frequencies are causing undulations of light present on the walls, ceiling and floor. Ultrasound leaves an impression of "already felt" like when we were in the womb of our mother.
An analogy between this work and the medium of photography is obvious: the sound waves become negative, the cartridge of water becomes an enlarger, and walls, meanwhile, used paper. The fingerprint is then transformed into photographic memory of a place. Multiple refractions of this work are the mirror images and sounds that make up the primordial environment of the fetus. Although it was developed using new technologies, this facility purified transcends technique and direct challenge of sensations already experienced by all, transmuting our relationship to the world in a poetic experience.
Ultrasound reminds the viewer / listener experiences his very first video and audio in the womb. We absolutely must remember a moment so that the latter has marked our body memory? This immersive installation was developed on the concept of sensory memory, emphasizing the fact that the body is the main entrance of all variations of memory: auditory, visual, group, location, etc.. According
Pernoud (2007: 12), it appears that "it is between five and half months and six months that can locate the early reactions to auditory stimulation [a fetus]. " His heartbeat and those of his mother, and the sounds of landslides, breaths and rumblings are an integral part of its acoustic environment. This sensitive atmosphere immerses the listener into a quiet typing.
Although it's a time to initiation of the most fundamental of our lives, it is removed from our "slide" of memories. Sensory memory is the only reference we have of that moment. Moreover, Ultrasound is also a reflection of a collective memory: the work presents us with common roots that are the basis of identity.
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PERNOUD, Laurence, (2007), I am expecting a child, Paris, Editions Horay, 476 p.
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This work was conducted as part of a residency at AVATAR association creation and dissemination in electronic and sound arts. Thank Mériol Lehmann, Jocelyn Robert, Amanda Gauthier and Marie-Christine Desbiens AVATAR and Genevieve Mom, Dad Michael, baby Alexander, Manon mom, dad and baby Stephen Joseph for the audio recording of the child's heart.
