Echoing Narcissus is an interactive sound-sculpture in the form of a well, covered in copper sheet and printed circuit boards. It is a re-telling of Ovid's myth of Narcissus and Echo. All sounds made in the proximity of the sculpture are lowered in frequency and played through a speaker at the bottom of the well. A reflective sheet of plastic stretched over the speaker creates a distorting mirror representing water at the bottom of the well. The treated sound is picked up by the microphone providing a delayed feedback which causes all sounds to cascade toward the sub-audible range. creating a sort of acoustic gravity which draws the spectator toward the well to be confronted with his or her own image, distorted at the bottom of the well.

This work is a sort of black hole of communication into which the observer loses himself or herself in the infinite restructurings of voice and image. (Next)

1988
"Guerilla Tactics", McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Canada.
"Images du Futur", Montréal, Canada.
"Guerilla Tactics", MacDonald-Stewart Gallery, University of Guelph, Canada.

1989
"artware: Kunst und Elektronik", Hannover, West Germany.
BMW Gallery, Munich, West Germany.
permanent installation in Hannover, West Germany.

1991
Art Space, Peterborough, Canada

1996
Tempozan Contemporary Art Museum, Osaka, Japan

Copyright 2000 David Rokeby / very nervous systems / All rights reserved. 12/11/00