Sonic sculpture (ice, pebbles on bamboo and metal) Any other examples?

January 29, 2013 4:58 PM

The ice melts, releasing the pebbles onto the sculpture. YOUTUBE Anyone know more about this genre of what I call sonic sculpture?

Source and more info: http://koplindelrio.com/content/mineko-grimmer

And now, a question. She didn't think of this. As a child I saw a functionally similar sonic sculpture in San Francisco in the 1970's, maybe at the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate? It had no metal in it and it had a much more hollow bamboo sound, and it was much larger and more graceful in a larger more resonant room and it made a pretty good mess.

Can anyone can help me find more about this style?

The name of this type sculpture or art?

Other examples?

Can anyone point me to longer .mp3 recordings?

posted by surplus to media & arts (10 answers total)

The Wave Organ in San Francisco.
posted by mollymayhem at 5:23 PM on January 29

Wikipedia has an entry on sound sculpture, but I dare not go down the rabbit hole...
posted by anonymisc at 5:31 PM on January 29

I remembered a peice like this at the Menil, but it appears it was also Mineko Grimmer.
posted by politikitty at 5:37 PM on January 29

What you saw at the Japanese Tea Garden was probably an example of sishi-odoshi.
posted by zsazsa at 5:40 PM on January 29

Thanks zsazsa and mollymahem but I am looking for another similar sculpture of ice dropping pebbles onto bamboo.

If Mineko Grimmer is doing sishi-odoshi, then yes. But I don't think that's what she's doing. This is indoor sound-making.

That sound has stayed with me for almost 40 years. If I can't find it, I'm going to have to build my own. Or something like it.
posted by surplus at 5:50 PM on January 29

There’s also this installation at UC Berkley called SOL Grotto, which is made out of the remains of a solar startup called Solyndra. I think that it’s supposed to make noise as wind flows through the pipes, but maybe not. It certainly looks fantastic. Check it out.
posted by oceanjesse at 6:09 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Yes yes I know there are many sculptures that make noise. I'm looking for a particular type of sonic sculpture, ice dropping pebbles onto bamboo.
posted by surplus at 6:16 PM on January 29

You know what. I just discovered she was old enough to have done the piece I saw back in the 70's. My bad. It was her idea all along.
posted by surplus at 7:29 PM on January 29

Does this qualify? Katie Paterson's ice records?
posted by londongeezer at 10:32 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

That's pretty amazing, londongeezer. I'll enjoy listening to that this a.m.

Let's hope the glaciers aren't offended if we're playing them at the wrong RPM!
posted by surplus at 5:11 AM on January 30