Three Channel Video Installation
2007

Featuring: Sunn O)))

"Evocation, continues the interest in not only being a performer and an audience member, but in examining the qualities of performance. Hannum wanted to film SunnO)))'s performances because of their unusual sustained control in contrast to typical rock and roll or punk rock performances. In this three-channel video Hannum edits the raw footage of the bandís ritualistic smoke-lit stage presence to create an experience as if the viewer is engulfed in the middle of the live performance. Dressed in hooded capes, SunnO))) with their glacier slow, low frequency music, creates a hauntingly heavy sonic atmosphere. Playing upon their medieval sensibilities, Hannum recreated the video in the common medieval format of a triptych, which is a three paneled composition. Since SunnO)))'s performances are meant to be an all encompassing aesthetic and physical experience of sound, Evocation captures not only the music and atmosphere but the effect of the brutally loud and overwhelming amplification of the droning guitar and vocal chords upon the crowd. While Evocation cannot fully represent the actual concert's noise level of nine huge amplifiers, Hannum evokes the sublime essence of their quest for the audienceís transcendence through the controlled performance of amplified trance-like sound. As SunnO))) writes on their album covers, "Maximum Volume Achieves Maximum Results."

From Tricia Van Eck's wall text for the 12x12 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL.

terencehannum.com