Ei Wada
Toki Ori Ori Nasu: Falling Records
A poetic sound installation that imagines a future civilisation’s misinterpretation of a common 20th century artefact – analogue tape recordings.
2013
Reel to reel tape decks, pedestals, sound
410 x 70 x 70 cm each
About
Story of Falling Records:
In the morning, the banging of a drum reverberates through the back-alleys. It is in fact not a drum though, but the sound of the rice dealer’s own way of repairing his malfunctioning rice mill by banging against it every morning. Today everyone in town knows the sound of this wake-up call, and before long the rice dealer’s mill even came to be used as a drum in the street carnival. It was around the same time that they unearthed a rotary magnetic recorder as it was used for sound recording back in the 20th century. People with a great interest in the phenomenon of accumulated time turning into volume have erected a giant tower of electronicos in the square.
“Electronicos” is what the “electronics” that human civilization once created morphed into, casting away the manual, and draping itself in a smell of new culture instead. In the evening hours, the magnetic material starts falling down as it rotates and plays music, drawing shapes and patterns with time. “Look, the 20th century is falling down! Down like a waterfall…” This is how people scream in the face of this sound and scenery. “Electronicos Fantasticos!”
Presented as part of: Experimenta Recharge: 6th International Biennial of Media Art, which toured Australia in 2014–2016.
The Artist
Ei Wada
Ei Wada is a musician and artist who uses a combination of old electronic and acoustic instruments to create multi-channel performance arrangements.