THE SOUND OF THE TWO HANDS CLAPPING
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland, Process Room, 2006
Media: Video clip, candle, glass, speaker, water, cling film.
 

This work is one in a series of investigations inspired by audiences’ behaviors in response to performances. Here we use a short video clip of the applause taken at the ‘Dublin Writer’s Festival 2006.' The clip loops in and out of focus in slow motion, and is projected onto five lit candles on the wall. The slowed down audio become pressure waves to drive a changing water pattern on a floor speaker. By playing on this tiny segment of applause, we invite you to observe the fragility of our perceptual limits and the permeability underlying all natural phenomena, which made possible the conversion of the sound of the two hands clapping into a dancing pool of water.