
gradual small fire #5 (2012) – Steve Roden
- sound sculpture
Plexiglas, cable, 2 loudspeakers, stereo soundwork
Courtesy the artist, CRG Gallery, New York and Susanne Vielmetter, LA Projects, Los Angeles
Steve Roden
- * 1964 in Los Angeles, California (US), lives in Pasadena, California (US)
Steve Roden’s gradual small fire 5 is one of a group of small sculptures made of Plexiglas and loudspeakers. The first five audiovisual fires were created for Daniel Libeskind’s building The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre in Hong Kong. Colors, light refractions and stylized flames evoke real fires. The rigidity of the Plexiglas contrasts with the idea of the burning process. From the soundtrack comes hidden rustling, interspersed with instrumental and everyday sounds that undergo just gradual alterations. Rodan’s group of sculptures is a contemporary response to Ed Ruscha’s artist’s book Various Small Fires and Milk (Los Angeles, 1964), an “open experiential space” without texts or explanations.
Sound sequence: gradual small fire #5
Abb.: © ZKM | Karlsruhe, Foto: Steffen Harms