Extreme Centre

2007

 

collaboration with Warren Quigley

 

Extreme Centre is an audio installation in the form of a maze. As visitors negotiate the twisting passages, they hear a cacophony of whispering, issued from speakers set into the passage walls. The sound of whispering ushers visitors along the passages but also engenders a range of reactions from unease, insecurity and paranoia to intimacy and the conspiratorial. Concentrating on individual speakers, the listener can then decipher text, sourced from a range of authors across vast geographies, epochs and political positions. The common denominator of all the text is the arguable categorization of “extreme.”

 

 


excerpts from various Extreme Centre soundtracks

 

 


media: 32 speakers, 2 pro amplifiers, 16 cd players, fabric-covered built walls
dimensions: 77 sq. metres
audio: various duration; various authors for script text
vocals : various individuals of different ages
photos: Didier MorelCurated by Catherine Bédard for Centre culturel canadien, Paris, France. Commissioned by Centre culturel canadien, Paris. Supported by Canada Council for the Arts.