Naama Tsabar "Propagation"

Thierry Goldberg

poster for Naama Tsabar "Propagation"

This event has ended.

Thierry-Goldberg Gallery presents Propagation, the first New York solo exhibition of Naama Tsabar. The show will include a site specific installation featuring a series of sculptures that double as instruments, turning the gallery into a hybrid space with a program of live performances.

Known for her sculptures and installations that question both the functionality of objects and their relationship with the space around them, Tsabar’s newest work hinges on its use as a tool for creating sound in similar fashion to her “Untitled (Speaker Wall)”, 2010, a highlight of Greater New York at MoMA PS1.

With her new pieces titled “Work on Felt” (Variation one and two), and “Work on Paper” (Variation two), all 2012, Tsabar has transformed the raw materials into modifiable stringed instruments. Through the addition of carbon fibre, piano strings and guitar tuning pegs, the felt and paper pieces gain new features that contradict their natural character. One is immediately confronted with their minimal design and then given a chance to directly engage the work itself by plucking the strings, creating sounds from them.

Using the sculptures as musical instruments, Tsabar and a group of musicians will perform during the opening and on every Sunday following. As the exhibition progresses, the artist will tighten or loosen the strings, changing the degree of the bowing of the sculptures and the sound they make. The transformative nature of the work is such that the appearance of the sculptures, their erectness or flatness, directly corresponds to the pitch they produce.

Felt itself is a material with a significant history in music and art, including its functional application in absorbing sound waves in musical instruments such as cymbals, bass drums, and pianos. In his 1966 piece “Infiltration Homogen für Konzertflügel” (Homogeneous Infiltration for Grand Piano), Joseph Beuys wrapped an entire grand piano in felt, using the material as sound dampener, both literally and metaphorically.

Tsabar muffles the amplification of the sound from her sculptures with “Propagation,” 2012, three sections of speakers that have been pulled apart and mounted backward into the gallery wall. Their appearance resembles a schematic drawing, with allusions to Russian Constructivist painting or the Dutch art movement De Stijil. In “Singing Wall” (one and two), 2012, Tsabar has embedded stage monitors into two tilted walls, both face a microphone on a stand, which will be used by invited musicians and the public for scheduled or impromptu performances.

Media

Schedule

from September 09, 2012 to October 21, 2012

Opening Reception on 2012-09-09 from 18:00 to 20:00
Performance at 7:30pm

Artist(s)

Naama Tsabar

  • Facebook

    Reviews

    All content on this site is © their respective owner(s).
    New York Art Beat (2008) - About - Contact - Privacy - Terms of Use