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The Sculpture
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Six slender metal poles, topped with saucer-like discs, are grouped like a clump of futuristic trees. As you stop to look at them, you become aware of the intermittent call of a strange bird, a male capercaillie now extinct from the area. The noise (emitted from partially submerged speakers) is used to alert our attention to sound in the landscape, both natural (wind, birds, insects, water) and man made (planes, cars, machinery). Matthew and Louise were inspired by the evidence of civilisation and technology in the surrounding area and wished to create something that linked the modern world with the natural environment. The discs, like satellites, refer to the most sophisticated of modern technologies, whereas the glinting, slender stalks, informally grouped, make a link with young birch trees, natural to the location.
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Matthew and Louise are interested in the way energy from the sun is used by plants, and their use of solar panels reflects this. In this work, light is trapped and transformed to power the hidden sound unit. Consequently, the frequency of the bird call is dependent on the amount of sunlight (14 hours in summer, 6 in winter) and so the work responds to natural change in the environment.
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The use of the capercaillie call makes a link with the past history of the area and asks us to question why it is no longer on the hillside. The eerie sound not only draws attention to the impact of people in the landscape, but is intended to make the work linger in the imagination.
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