Hybrid - Podoid

Study for Sound Sculpture

I created these images in London in 2003, just after I had moved from Brighton to work on a large commercial project. The move affected various relationships in my life at the time, both personal and work. The compositions focused on three relationships and the communication between them. Each composition symbolized metaphorically the altered states the move had caused them. There was a power and majesty to shape. It was so curious. The reflections made interesting biological symbols, and the femininity of the piece swerved its androgyny. I made three images to preserve this feeling and project, which are also open to personal interpretation.

The compositions (the triptych) explore three different relationship subjects:

Closeness - the forms mirror one another and give the impression of resting, contented.

Distance - as the forms face away from one another, they are so close and yet so far.

Confrontation - the same forms face one another, animated, each with a different view of the subject.

The forms are replicated in the same proportion, creating a visual rhythm that insinuates a balanced relationship. The position of each form suggests contrasting viewpoints. The white background emphasizes the arrangement of the forms and their relationship. It also amplifies the space between the forms to indicate distance, which we can interpret physically and mentally. 

The black-and-white color of the compositions communicates the questions and answers the forms pose to one another about their relationship, and the grey areas compound the uncertainty.

The composition's symbolism encourages the viewer to relate their experience of balance from within relationships.

The composition's main subject is a photograph of a completed sculpture I began in 2000 and finished in 2003. The Techno Pod speaker's volume is similar in size to that of a diaphragm. The biological feel of the Pod lends itself to evolution. I played with this idea as a basis for a Sound System, creating an environment where listeners could sit around while it played sounds as part of the crowd.

It was all about the system within that environment, leading to an acoustic placement that organically sat in a circle, playing sound inwards from the perimeter. The fact that they exhibited human traits was a mutation from the notion of adaptability to the environment to a literal end. Here, the system played as part of the crowd.

We had a couple of rejected Techno Pod cabinets at our first manufacturing site in Worthing, predating our partnership with Bowers and Wilkins (B&W), so I started sculpting humanoid Pod sculptures (Podoids) early to learn body filler more proficiently. One was for a Point of display idea that was never finished. My first attempts were scrapped. I slowly worked on another form off and on. This time, seated, its legs astride, the body playing music for all that gathered and heard. It displayed anatomically proportioned legs that were recognizable, yet, for instance, the feet had no toes, making it even more alien.

It made sense that the body captivated curiosity and attention to its function, as the more people looked at it, the more they would hear it playing as a sound system. The sound emits perfectly for that level when you sit next to it. From here, it served as more of an idea for a sound performance and installation.

I finished the sculpture in the early noughties while making Orb designs and patterns at Si-Fi Loudspeakers. I never made the mold. I traveled instead, but I still have the pattern, and I have revisited this idea at my studio in California.