| Language has always played a
central role in Bruce Nauman's work, providing him with a means of examining
how human beings exist in the world, how they communicate or fail to
communicate. For Raw Materials, he has selected 22 spoken texts taken
from existing works to create an aural collage in the Turbine Hall.
Removed from their original context, the individual texts and voices
become almost abstract elements, taking on new meanings as they are
rearranged as part of a single work. Raw Materials
also draws on Nauman's fascination with space, and the ways it can
alter our behaviour and self-awareness. The Turbine Hall has been
organised so that visitors encounter 'bands of sound' that run in
strips across its width. No other physical changes have been made
to the space. Sound becomes a sculptural material in itself, one that
orchestrates and measures its surroundings.
The Turbine Hall is filled with voices, some clearly
audible, others indistinct, which merge with new, 'found' sound from
the voices of visitors. In Raw Materials, Nauman has transformed this
cavernous space into a metaphor for the world, echoing to the endless
sound of jokes, poems, pleas, greetings, statements and propositions.
Emma Dexter
Curator, Tate Modern
|
Bruce Nauman, photograpgh © Tate |
