Event 1 - Bill Fontana's Acoustical Visions

I scuffled my way out of a computer science class in Rolfe Hall when I put on my earphones and began the trek to the Broad Art Center. In five minutes, Bill Fontana’s presentation titled “Acoustical Visions” was going to start, but I was in no rush. I was listening to David Bowie’s aptly-titled song “Sound and Vision,” as my mind was transitioning from programming syntax rules to artistic expectations. Bowie sang about “waiting for the gift of sound and vision,” and it provoked me to make speculations on Fontana’s creative process. Nevertheless, the ebullient, catchy tune of the song got me revved up for his presentation.

I made it just in time! As I entered a dark room and took a seat in the back, Fontana began to introduce himself to the audience. He was a composer who believed that all sounds were inherently musical. His works are called “sound sculptures,” inspired by the earth, man-made structures, diverse landscapes, and renewable energy as well as realized by combinations of microphones for airborne sounds, hydrophones for underwater sounds, and accelerometers for vibrations in materials and structures. He traveled all over the world to create these sound sculptures, from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the natural hot springs of Tuscany. Wherever he visited, he would map the recording devices in great detail to capture various sounds and mixing them to convey his “emotional responses” to the “heart beats of the earth.”

Fontana showcased some of his works to us, and I was inspired by his use of technology in art and how industrialization can be portrayed as art. One was an old bell sitting atop a skyscraper in New York City. He had a camera right next to the bell overlooking the various buildings in the city and attached an accelerometer on the bell. What we heard were the internal sounds of the bell as the winds were howling and the cars were passing in the streets. It sounded like a century-old gong that rang for eternity. Another one that stood out to me was the Golden Gate Bridge. He mounted a camera on top of one of the Bridge’s cables as well as an accelerometer there and a microphone at the base to capture the sounds of the cable rattling to the winds, the sounds of the cars passing by on the road, and the sounds of cars as heard from underneath the bridge—during various times of the day, whether it was foggy, early in the morning, or late at night! I expected a cacophony but instead, I was treated to a surprisingly harmonious ambiance combining nature and city life.

It’s amazing that Fontana would visit UCLA to give this wonderful talk. The Golden Gate Bridge part was just a small peak of his latest project called “Shadow Soundings,” which is still in exhibition today at Lisbon’s MAAT museum.

His works all showed me something: my life is inundated with sound, whether I’m entering a metro subway or witnessing Old Faithful in Yellowstone, but I tend to ignore sounds around me. Through his works, I’m hearing sounds that I never knew existed, perhaps those I could’ve caught if I concentrated harder! I realized that art can be as sonically inspiring as it is visually inspiring, made possible by various technologies. He showed that every object carries an inherent sound that has yet to be expressed. Surely, the two cultures of art and science can merge to produce more beautiful art!

I would recommend this event because it will not only help cultivate an appreciation for the sounds of our planet Earth but also insightfully demonstrate that art has no boundaries.

Bridge

Bell

Fontana and me

Sources:

Chaya, Lynn. “Bill Fontana's Shadow Soundings Exhibition at the MAAT Museum.” Designboom | Architecture & Design Magazine, 27 Feb. 2018, www.designboom.com/art/maat-museum-bill-fontana-shadow-soundings-lisbon-10-24-2017/.

Whiting, Sam. “Artist Bill Fontana Is of Sound Mind.” San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Aug. 2017, www.sfchronicle.com/art/article/Artist-Bill-Fontana-is-of-sound-mind-11818413.php.

Kim, John. “Bell.” 4 Apr. 2018. JPEG file.

Kim, John. “Bill Fontana and Me.” 4 Apr. 2018. JPEG file.

Kim, John. “Bridge.” 4 Apr. 2018. JPEG file.

O’Leary, Chris. “‘Sound and Vision," the Bowie Song That Contains Within It All Bowie Songs.” Slate Magazine, 11 Jan. 2016, www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/01/11/the_making_of_sound_and_vision_the_archetypal_david_bowie_song.html.