Ashes Withyman – A Burning Bag as a Smoke-Grey Lotus JULY 5–SEPTEMBER 20, 2015
Ashes Withyman A Burning Bag as a Smoke-Grey Lotus July 5–September 20, 2015
Stroom Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands
It is not something one might suspect at first sight, but in a surprising and fragmented way the large-scale installation A Burning Bag as a Smoke-Grey Lotus by Ashes Withyman describes the course of one full day. Six constructions function as display cases for a collection of sculptural instruments, representing a musical composition written by the arist himself that takes us from sunrise to sunset.
One cage has a base of compacted earth, the other bases are made of sand, carpet, water, cement and roll-on roofing. The cases have large canvas backdrops painted with fish food, rat poison, cuttle fish ink, engine oil, leaves and concrete/tempera. They are the setting for the presentation of the imaginative and funny looking sculptural instruments created by Ashes Withyman. The instruments imitate a broad variety of sounds, created by people, nature or objects.
The instruments refer to the various origins of sound: Geophony (sound produced by non-living entities like wind and water), Biophony (sound produced by non-human animals), and Anthrophony (sound produced by humans and the instruments they play). Withyman’s exhibition invites us to look at these partly recognizable objects in a different way and let them stimulate our imagination with their playful quality and peculiar titles.
The large-scale installation pursues Ashes Withyman’s ongoing investigation into the physical and symbolic functions and properties of sound. One of these is the healing quality attributed to sound in spiritual movements like yoga and Buddhism.
At a number of specified, but mostly unannounced, times during the opening hours of the exhibition the instruments will be spontaneously played by especially invited performers. Each time of the day corresponds to a specific set of instruments that the performers can play as they wish.
