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Northern soundscape

Resonant art grows out of a difficult personal journey
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By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
September 5th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Give them a tap, and they'll jingle with sounds evoking the artist's painful residency in snowy Scandinavia.
Petra Vargová: Sound Flowers

at Hunt Kastner Artworks Ends Oct. 2. Kamenická 22, Prague 7–Letná. Open Tues.–Fri. 1–6 p.m., Sat. 2–6 p.m. or by appointment; call 233 376 259.

Petra Vargová’s exhibition “Sound Flowers” at Hunt Kastner Artworks is a subtle, kinetic sound installation in three parts. The concept of the show is based on this Czech new media artist’s residence over the past several years in Scandinavia.
The main part of the installation dominates the gallery space and gives the show its title. It is an assortment of 19 waist-high white “Sound Flowers,” which look like alien white poppies that haven’t yet blossomed. Vargová’s sculptures are bulbous at the top and bottom, with a slender stem made of light wood. Each ball-shaped top is made of plastic, while the flowers’ bulging base is made of both plastic and light wood. Seven of the flowers have a ring of balls at the top, another seven have simple rounded caps, and five are topped with a single ball.
When they are touched or gently shaken, the sculptures sway to and fro slightly and make a jingling sound. Like Weebles (a toy that was hugely popular in the United States in the 1970s), they wobble but don’t fall down.
On the far end of this field of subtle sound, there is a luminous wall of flickering glass crystals that resemble stars on a wall. The artist identifies them as computer-generated “Tears.”
To create this part of the installation, Vargová used custom-made software to simulate real crying in an abstract way, then generated the virtual tears on the gallery wall with crystals.
This section symbolizes the artist’s difficult first year in Oslo, which she describes as a time filled with extreme loneliness and homesickness. She was not able to adapt to the lack of sunlight in the winter (just three hours of gray light per day), and sank into a deep depression.
To overcome this inner daze, she walked endlessly through the snow-covered countryside surrounding the city. The electric power poles that she would encounter on these walks, covered in snow and humming with high voltage, were the inspiration for the kinetic “Sound Flowers.”
A few years later, in the southern Swedish city of Gothenburg, she fell into another period of very deep sadness, due to an extraordinary homesickness during which she was frequently crying. The “Tears” installation was inspired by this other chapter of her life abroad.
Finally, Vargová decided to leave Gothenburg and return home. However, this meant that she would have to interrupt significant relationships in her life, primarily with her boyfriend there.
So behind the wall of tears there is a short video loop projected on the wall titled Secret Tale. It shows two hands holding, caressing, gripping and releasing each other’s fingers. In the text provided for visitors, Vargová explains that she shot this video with her partner just before her departure. The video loop is the best part of the exhibit. It portrays a sensual tenderness that is even more poignant in the context of the lovers’ anticipated separation.
In the background, a pop song plays quietly — intentionally so, to give the impression of a song heard from somewhere far away. Though it is not identified as such by Vargová, the song is titled “Shame,” by BT, with the lyrics: “You told your great tale, and it’s always the same. Quite a shame that it goes this way, is what you said. … How very bizarre, all those blood-letting games. Quite a shame that it goes this way.”
In its three sections, “Sound Flowers” reveals both the outer and inner journey of an artist abroad. The coldness, pain and tears are all laid bare here. Vargová’s exhibition in Prague makes a perfect homecoming.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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