Yann Seznec
Currents
31 July – 31 August 2014
Artist and musician Yann Seznec often uses technology as a medium to reveal natural processes that are imperceptible to the human eye or ear. In Secret Sounds of Spores (2011), for example, Seznec collaborated with mycologist Patrick Hickey to create an installation which used light and sound to reveal the thousands of spores deposited every day by mushrooms.
Currents expands Seznec’s interest in technology as a tool, to consider how it shapes our environment. Computer fans are now a ubiquitous technology, used to cool down machinery when we produce, consume or analyse information. Frequently discarded, the fans point to our obsession with change, as well as the realities of a global economy that make it cheaper to produce anew rather than repair.
Constructed entirely from discarded computer fans, Seznec’s new work is a physical and sonic experience, drawing on real-time weather data from around the world to move air around the visitor. If Seznec’s earlier works have made visible hidden natural processes that surround us, Currents allows us to experience large scale global movements (economic and meteorological) in microcosm.
A recording of Seznec's Currents performance at the Southbank Centre for PRS for Music Foundation's New Music Biennial is available to buy, and he has been added to NMC Recordings' interactive Music Map.
Currents is part of PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music Biennial. Part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme, New Music Biennial presents a series of 20 brand new music commissions to audiences across the UK. All of these commissions will also be presented at two weekend showcases in London (4 – 6 July 2014) and Glasgow (1 - 2 August 2014). New Music Biennial is a PRS for Music Foundation initiative, presented in partnership with Creative Scotland, Arts Council England and the British Council, and in collaboration with BBC Radio 3, NMC Recordings, Southbank Centre and Glasgow UNESCO City of Music. Additional support has been given by John S. Cohen Foundation, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Incorporated Society of Musicians, The Bliss Trust, The Finzi Trust and Hope Scott Trust. See www.newmusicbiennial.com
Commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival, Currents is produced by Suzy Glass.
Supported by Retrouvius; fans kindly donated by Computers for Charities.
Mon-Sun, 10am-6pm
Free admission
Events
26 August 2014
Yann Seznec in conversation with Martin Parker
6.30pm
Free, but please book in advance. Book tickets.
31 August 2014
Performance: Yann Seznec, Currents
Doors open at 6pm; performance begins at 6.30pm
Free, but please book in advance. Book tickets.