Transference
February 16 – May 29, 2011
Guest Curator:
Mariah Nielson
Pop-up Location: 499 Castro Street, San Francisco
Transference was commissioned by Museum of Contemporary Craft in partnership with Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland OR, and originally installed at MoCC from November 19, 2009 to January 9, 2011. Artwork © Andy Paiko and Ethan Rose. All rights reserved.
In Transference, artists Andy Paiko and Ethan Rose explore the sonic quality of glass by transforming handblown and sculpted vessels into a contemporary interpretation of the armonica – a musical instrument briefly popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Paiko and Rose share an interest in reinterpreting antiquated technologies and have collaborated to create an experience that causes the visitor to reconsider preconceived notions of both the medium and the form of a simple glass bowl.
The glass harp is a set of glass goblets graduated in size and filled with water. Musical tones are produced by means of a wet fingertip moving over the rim of the vessel. In 1761 Benjamin Franklin designed a mechanical version of the instrument, which he called the armonica, derived from the Italian word for harmony. Franklin mounted 37 perfectly tuned bowls horizontally onto an iron rod connected to a flywheel and treadle. By using the foot to spin the bowls, a performer was free to employ all ten fingers to produce the musical notes.
Transference is a contemporary interpretation of the glass armonica in which the artists have removed the performer and introduced electronic control of the movement and vibration in the bowls. By mounting the glass bowls on walls and pedestals, the artists allow the vessel to transcend its traditional function as a simple container. It becomes a form for release and the glass the means and the medium to transmit sound. These delicate vessels produce mesmerizing tones, provoking new interpretations of glass as a craft medium and the vessel an object. The overall effect of the glass, motion and composition creates a visual and auditory experience that seems improvised – by design.
Photos courtesy of Adam Willis.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos courtesy of Adam Willis.
ARTISTS
Andy Paiko and Ethan Rose
ABOUT MCD’S POP-UP EXHIBIITONS
The Museum of Craft and Design was at a crossroads, requiring both a search for a long-term home and a short-term plan to meet our public mandate. Inspired by the current trend of pop-ups, MCD created a series of pop-up museum experiences that responded to the immediate need to continue offering exciting and innovative exhibitions and programs to the public.
The high vacancy rate in storefronts throughout San Francisco presented an opportunity to create small, temporary museum experiences in local neighborhoods. By focusing on educational and informative exhibitions, paired with dynamic programming, MCD reintroduced itself to San Francisco as a revitalizing organization and engaged new, local audiences by strategically selecting locations where San Franciscans lived, worked, and played.
