John Driscoll: Slight Perturbations

Slight Perturbations, John Driscoll's first exhibition with the gallery, is a collection of playful kinetic sound sculptures activated by visitors. Each instrument contains tiny microphones and speakers emitting feedback at ultrasonic frequencies above our hearing level. A reflective foil, set in motion by hand, motor, springs or joystick, modulates the feedback, generating audible sounds amplified through an array of unique speaker objects.

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Each sculpture possesses unique visual and sonic character. Some foils rotate, haphazardly pausing and changing direction, others wrinkle and unwrinkle. Some objects are installed on stands, others seemingly float in space. Collectively, they create a rich audio-visual environment, like an ensemble of improvising musicians and dancers. They play with the space around them; they poke fun at the limitations of our sensory perception and cognitive ability.

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John Driscoll is a founding member of Composers Inside Electronics, and has collaborated on David Tudor's electroacoustic environment Rainforest IV since its inception in 1973. Driscoll's work has focused on robotic instruments, sound installations for unique architectural spaces, rotating loudspeakers, and music for dance. He has collaborated with David Tudor, Bill Viola, Merce Cunningham, Linda Fisher, Phil Edelstein, Ron Kuivila, Stephen Petronio Company, and many others. Driscoll's work has been presented at the Kitchen (NYC), Akademie der Kunste (Berlin), Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw), MoMA (NYC), Museum der Moderne (Salzburg), and many other venues. Rainforest V, a performative installation Driscoll co-created with Phil Edelstein in 2015, is in the collections of MoMA and Museum der Moderne.