Sounding Out 2012

This sculptural object takes a bass drum and converst it into a new form of instrument that can be beaten, strummed, plucked and yet is a visually interesting sculpture. The drum has be reconditioned and a linocut of one of Froud's virus sculptures has been printed onto existing plastic vellum on of the the sides. On the other side, the face has been strung with six strings from a gutiar, strung in a visually aesthetic way rather than in the manner of a practical instrument. Within the interior of the drum, panels has been covered in approximately 2 000 hypodermic needles that crete a soft yet dangerous surface.

The piece engages with collective memory and the subversion of the expected. A drum that can be plucked? A potentially dangerous string instrument? Or a container for viruses or the medical instruments used in the treatment of disease? We have a collective memory of the sound of a drum or guitar and the visual memory of a syringe and needle. The sculpture uses repetition and rhythm in the use of material as repeated modules much in the way that beats are registered on the drum. The title also makes reference to things going "viral" in cyberspace, a means to spread content and opinion, share music or infect the computers of others.

Information courtesy of Bag Factory Artists' Studio