Future Delay, an exhibition curated by New York-based MOBIUS Fellow Amanda Schmitt, consists of newly commissioned works by Madeline Hollander, Pearla Pigao and Hans Rosenström. The exhibition, on view at Helsinki Contemporary June 7 — July 7, 2019, was made possible by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York through its MOBIUS Fellowship Program and Helsinki Contemporary through its HC Guest Curator Program.
When the visitor consents to participate Hans Rosenström's binaural sonic installation Suusta suuhun (by taking a seat and putting on a pair of headphones), a signal box is triggered and an audio track begins. Through a short narrative using a specific binaural recording technique, one that mimics human hearing, the soundscape shapes an encounter that positions the viewer within the artwork, making the viewers’ presence –and their body– an integral part of the work. Balancing between a private, intimate experience and a shared, inter-subjective situation, the work reflects on questions regarding the self and its relation to others.
Two bodiless voices emerge, yet they feel viscerally, hauntingly physical. The properties of voice transcend the physical limitations of the human body: both when we speak, and when we hear another's voice, we are able to surpass corporeal boundaries; a voice is born within the body of a speaker and exists equally inside the listener. A voice contains memory, and when heard, part of that memory is shared, simultaneously exported and downloaded.
The sonic illusions composed by Rosenström test the restrained limits of our perception, prompting us to confront our concept of reality and creating space to posit new interpretations of time, space, and communication. The strength in Rosenström’s work relies on the artist’s intimate knowledge of the digital and sonic mechanisms he has mastered, and like Erkki Kurenniemi and Paul Ryan, his highly technical and clever sonic installations involve what scholar Susanna Paasonen describes as simultaneous externalization and internalization of perception and memory.
