Sound 05: »The kind of silence between twenty-one and twenty-three«

Installation made of 3 windshields including suspension, 8 PC spotlights, sound
by Sounds of Silence
galerie station, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt
26.10.-20.11.2011

Just as the eye adjusts to darkness and takes notice of unexpected nuances, so too is the ear exposed to a cosmos of sounds held within silence. »Sounds of Silence« discloses the multiple qualities of silence and creates an environment in which silence can be experienced through a series of audio-visual installations.

With this installation sound 05: »The kind of silence between twenty-one and twenty-three« Petra Eichler and Susanne Kessler continue their series, begun in 2005, on the perceptibility of silence.

The fifth instalment of the series deals with the silence of the famous three seconds, with the moment in which time falls apart, the centre cannot hold. Three seconds that imbue the senses with rhythm and lend structure to our lives. Three seconds that can feel like an eternity.
Three seconds in which perhaps the world stands still or you see your whole life passing by.
Three seconds in which everything is possible, in which opportunities are grasped or lost, decisions made or evaded; three seconds in which reason prevails or conventions are broken.

The dialectic of the three-second silence finds its aesthetic equivalent in the brutality of the broken windshields and the softly tinted shadows they cast upon the wall.
The fragmentary text to be heard in the space invites the visitor to surrender to the universe of possibilities. 

“Three seconds for a gaze
Three seconds for an embrace
Three seconds for a goodbye wave
Three seconds for fight or flight
Three seconds for a dog’s memory
Three seconds between you and the car in front
Three seconds for me to understand the meaning of your words
Three seconds for a waltz
Three seconds for the penny to drop
Three seconds for the parachute to open
Three seconds  until reality starts”

Sounds of Silence is a collaboration between architect Petra Eichler and artist/filmmaker Susanne Kessler, both based in Frankfurt, Germany. Their works – installations, objects and environments – create tangible atmospheres that invite audience participation.

www.soundsofsilence.de