An audio hall of mirrors distorts sound as well as reflections

The RA Schools was the first art school in Britain established in 1769, and unlike many colleges, their postgraduate course is free to attend.  The plural of the name is a legacy from when students picked one discipline to study; today the programme is a lot more mixed. Each summer they hold an end of year show for their 17 contemporary fine art graduates.

I forgot I had filmed this (slightly wonkily) at the Royal Academy Schools’ end of year show last June. Hannah Perry’s ‘Feeling it‘  is a triptych of mirrored sheeting (mylar maybe?) stretched on frames in front of speakers.

The sound coming out of the speakers vibrated the reflective panels in front, creating a kind of sonic version of a fairground Hall of Mirrors… I loved it!

In an article on Artsy Editorial, she talks about these panels:

“I call them wobblers, but they’re titled ‘Sound Spots.’ People are fascinated with standing in front of them—they warp your view of things. It’s a nice metaphor for warping your illusions or preconceptions of reality.”

More info

• Hannah Perry’s bonker’s homepage; cut and paste video and audio makes it feel more like a vintage GeoCities website (once you get past the Apple iTunes ad). I like it a lot :)
• If you can’t stomach the blinky text and iframe action, her Press page is more sedate and has some interesting info about her work on it
  
• Feature on Hannah Perry, Artsy Editorial,  Feb 2015