Research Output
Gastric Tones: A Study in Sound
  In this installation, the artist manipulates the speed and duration of the sounds made by his digestive tract before, during, and after the consumption of a meal. Gordon (1993) discovered hidden performative meaning within moving images subjected to extreme slow-motion. In a similar way, this decelerated work reveals latent sonic gestures. Resembling the calls of animals, the rumble and howl of extreme weather, or the hush and crash of the sea, these tones celebrate the primordial power that is in us all. Acknowledging that power and wealth are functions of speed, (Hauer 2017), the work takes its thematic inspiration from breakthroughs in sustainability, pioneered by the Slow Food movement (Tencati and Zsolnai, 2012), and is an aesthetic rebuttal to global inequality and scarcity in our dromological age. These tones also possess the power to imagine. Their retardation creates rhythmic pulses, punctuated with silence. When the artist’s stomach speaks, a collective imaginary dialogue emerges from these interstices in which we can share our dreams of abundance, and of an end to anxiety and want.

  • Date:

    31 December 2018

  • Publication Status:

    Published

  • Publisher

    Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology

  • Funders:

    Edinburgh Napier Funded

Citation

Holmes, P. (2018). Gastric Tones: A Study in Sound. In A. Abraham, P. Sagar, & T. Thapa (Eds.), Letters to the Future: Cumulus Conference Proceedings Bengaluru 2017 (48-51)

Authors

Keywords

sound art; consumption; slow food; digestion

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