Alex Hawthorn (b. 1986) is an artist, composer, and technologist based in Los Angeles and Brooklyn who investigates notions of archive, memory, and time through a variety of methodologies, including both physical and digital pieces. Their work in theatrical sound design has garnered them an Obie award, LA Ovation Awards, and has been heard across North and South America, Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Artist Location: North Hollywood, CA
Social Media:
PARTICIPATION
Sound Sails
“Sound Sails” uncovers and amplifies the hidden sounds generated by the natural world as wind passes through man-made contraptions. Three separate wind vanes, each constructed from a different material (wood, steel, and PVC plastic), catch and respond to the wind in their own unique way. These sculptural objects act as studies on their materials – how does their material affect the sound produced? How can these objects make manifest, visually and aurally, the dynamic character of nature present all around us?
Contact mics on the three sculptures pick up and amplify the minute vibrations created by the interplay between the sculpture’s material and the wind. By dedicating one’s experience to one single sculpture at a time, the participant is able to focus their experience and notice the differences between the materials and the movement. In this way, the sculptures act as focal points for meditative study, inviting the participant to spend time witnessing this simple exchange between nature and object. The sound acts as a further focusing of the experience, zooming in from the overall object to single points of movement on the object, as it shifts and swings in the wind.