Dylan Ricards
Installation On-site June 4th:
Heavy Metal Machine
Heavy Metal Machine is a sculptural installation that highlights the ever presence of sound in our world by acting both as a sound prism, reacting in realtime to changes in its surrounding environment. It offers an opportunity to be hyper present in moments of chaos and harmony.
Mundane ambient noise - the rhythm of passing footsteps, the white noise of automobiles in the background, birds conversing in a tree canopy, the chatter of children - all become source code for this closed circuit system.
Heavy Metal Machine consists of a rectangular steel armature supporting a suspended sheet of stainless steel, and a second steel armature suspending a stainless steel vessel filled with water. A microphone is positioned between the armatures capturing ambient sound, which is fed into a mixer and then sent to transducers adhered to the back of both the stainless steel sheet and water vessel.
As ambient sound is captured by the microphone, it is sent to the transducers and reverberated through the steel sheet and steel vessel, creating intense self oscillating drones that ebb and flow depending on the state of the environment around the structure. In particular, as sound is amplified through the water vessel, it is visualized in chaotic cymatic forms, making visible the auditory energy that engulfs us and guides us.
More information on June 4th on-site event.
About the Artist:
Dylan Ricards is a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of sculpture, sound, and installation to explore themes that circle the public environments we navigate, both as individuals and communities. The duality between the strategic design of public spaces that both promote and inhibit use, and the recontextualization of these spaces through the eyes of skaters, street artists, and storytellers is prevalent in his recent work. Through this exploration Ricards hopes to reframe this duality as a dialectic where public space can be considered emancipatory instead of hostile.
Artist Location: Long Beach, CA
Social Media: Artist Website | Instagram
