Youstina Youssef
The Honors Humanities Seminar course, of all courses I have taken throughout my academic career, is the most unique of all. The course taught me to contemplate more about the minor things in life that I take for granted. I now realize that what many people may disregard or call “garbage” may, in fact, be of great importance. I learned that art is all around me and that it truly requires a bit of carefulness to realize such art. For instance, one of the artworks we discussed in class was the Tara Rodgers’ portrait sound piece, Resolutions (2008/2012). In this sound piece, the author provides an image along with a sound piece that reads the image’s pixels. This is a unique form of art that simply is unthinkable; recording the pixels of an image and considering it as art is what makes this form of art an experimental art. Rodgers’ sound piece has inspired me to create my own version of experimental art.
My experimental artwork is titled “RAIN,” which is an acrostic for the phrase “Roaming Around In life Naively.” The reason why I chose this title is because of the fact that humans live once and thus have no experience or way of guaranteeing certain life events; thus, everyone is considered naive in life. Anyways, in “RAIN,” I provide three recordings of rain at different speeds. For the production of my sound piece, I simply recorded the sound of rain on my phone. I then used Audiodroid, a software that enables me to edit the recordings at various speeds and merge them together. The three speeds I provide are slow, normal (unchanged), and fast. All three sound recordings are originally one minute long. However, after adjusting the speeds for each recording, the individual recordings vary in length. For instance, the slow recording, although originally one minute long becomes longer, as the speed is reduced. However, the fast recording, although also originally one minute long, becomes shortened due to the fast speed. Furthermore, as speed changes, so does the tone. A fast tone may be more lively than that of a slow one.
Through my sound piece, I hope to reveal a contemplation about life. Although humans usually start their lives at the same speed as children, the pace of life varies greatly as one grows up. Some people finish their education at the high school level, while others finish after undergraduate school, and others after graduate school. Likewise, some people may start forming families at earlier or later ages than others. Finally, some people pass away at different ages than others, some younger or older than others. In addition to such speeds in life, other people have different tones than others. By tone, I speak of happiness or sadness. Although we, humans, are all under one sky, we experience different feelings at the same time. For instance, while one person is celebrating a graduation or success, another may be mourning the death of a loved one. In essence, although we are all living at the same time, we may experience various feelings. I hope to convey such contemplations concerning life through my simplified sound piece.
In conclusion, my artwork serves various purposes according to one’s desires. I will no longer analyze or explain my recording so that I may give my audience space to ponder and contemplate life through “RAIN.” I hope my simple yet effective way of conveying such contemplations plays a greater role in analyzing art, especially experimental art. Hopefully, my audience learns the significance of taking a moment to think more about their surroundings and not take life for granted.
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