afterwards - conceptual art piece, rooms after sex

[Guest Close Guest]

Here's a conceptual art piece I did from 2009. I was thinking about people talking about the 'aura' of art works and also memory as a personal and social thing - life / death etc etc. Also very much thinking of the contrast between being in an experience and turning experience into or having experience as an object of thought. Anyways, I asked a whole bunch of people if they would record the sound of the place they were in just after having sex - just the room sound, no sounds of themselves at all, nothing that could be construed as being part of having sex itself. Just the room, afterwards.

Most either did not reply, or had trouble getting their partner to agree, but ....http://garyglengeoffrey.bandcamp.com/album/afterwards

[Guest Close RikkiSho]

Not yet listened to them but why after sex?

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[Guest Close Guest]

Hi RikkiSho - great question!

I was thinking about lots of things around this piece - but the thoughts fell in to three areas.
Firstly there was the asking people and their response, then there was the making of the recordings, then the release of the recordings and the 'listening'
Overall what interested me was how just the statement of the project seemed to be intrusive and sexually charged even though there was nothing but the sound of an empty room. It's a sort of anti-porn, where the recording starts only after the sex is over., but nonetheless the sexual association is there and brought to mind by the context of the recordings. That’s what I like most of all - the context rather than the sounds dominating the experience.
This aspect reminds me of a children's TV show I used to watch with my kids.
One of the characters is scared of the dark. Her friend turns the lights off then on again to show her there is no danger and says -
"See, don't be scared, nothing changes when it goes dark"
"Yes it does" they reply
"No it doesn't. What changes when the room goes dark?"
"I do"

[Guest Close RikkiSho]

Haha interesting. So essentially...........the pieces.........released to the public.........are about having an effect on those who "composed" the pieces (?)

[Guest Close Guest]

Haha interesting. So essentially...........the pieces.........released to the public.........are about having an effect on those who "composed" the pieces (?)

pretty much - but also on me for the weirdness of asking people and on the listener who can - if they want imagine what was going on in that room just a few minutes before. But I'm sure the biggest impact is on a couple having sex knowing they are going to record the room sound as soon as they finish. Plus lots of people refused - said they would but then they couldn't convince their partners, maybe all sorts of reasons. So it is about that process as well.

- and I really wanted to be able to make the joke - This is my album I get to take the solo
but i thought that'd embarrass the kids too much

[Guest Close RikkiSho]

HAHA!!
Listening now.
Intriguing how some people did not want to partake. I am not sure if I could do it. I mean essentially, a room with nothing going is just a room with nothing going, even if moments a go 2 people were having TheSex, or if George Clooney was dancing the cha cha cha. Yet, it creates a feeling of privacy and sensitivity.

It is interesting, sitting here listening, trying to imagine and connect to the people who composed these, and their personal experiences/feelings.