Sonic Gestures (2007) 

multi-channel video and audio, 18′ on loop 

In 2007, I was commissioned by NexMap to make a video and sound installation for the “Cinechamber” at Recombinant Media Labs The gallery had an immersive set-up in a 24’ x 36’ room with 10 channels of frame-locked video projected on 12’ wide screens mounted edge to edge – 3 screens on the sides and 2 on the ends of the room, and 16 channels of surround audio. 

I wanted to make something site-specific for that room, so I created a 10-channel piece using video of gestures associated with sound. I created an 18-minute loop incorporating extremely time-stretched hand claps, fragmented chattering and whistling faces, a text-based section involving a very long URL, and long gestures – sometimes resulting in a 36’ long arm reaching across 3 screens. 

In 2019, a 6-channel version of Sonic Gestures with stereo sound was shown at Trondheim Elektroniske Kunstsenter in Norway and then at Savvy Contemporary in Berlin in a 7-channel configuration. I reconfigured the 7-channel version for this DE Gallery exhibition. 

-Pamela Z (2023)