On the afternoon of 19 July 2017, a Wednesday when SFMOMA’s galleries are closed to the public, artist Fayen d’Evie and U.C. Berkeley literary professor Georgina Kleege led a small group of museum staff and invited guests through a processional encounter with Sonic Shadows (2010) by Bill Fontana.

Sonic Shadows (2010) samples and layers the active movements of visitors and processes that undergird the working museum but are normally concealed from the public. Live signals are fed from accelerometers to eight loudspeakers and four ultrasonic emitters, mounted on mechanical arms on SFMOMA’s fifth-floor oculus bridge. Most of the accelerometers are fixed to pipes in the museum boiler room, relaying real-time fluctuations in flows of water in pipes of varying size and shape. A few are installed on the steel truss oculus bridge to react dynamically to the resonant vibrations of visitors’ footsteps. The mechanical arms rotate the ultrasonic emitters, such that directional sound bounces off surfaces and around the atrium void.

Among those who visited the debut installation of Sonic Shadows in 2010 was architect Chris Downey: “Stepping into the SFMOMA atrium, we were greeted by strange sounds of dripping water, metallic pings, and intermittent clicks. Just as we thought we might recognize a sound, it vanished. Sometimes it seemed to travel right past, while others seemed to swerve somewhere near… Most interesting to those of us without sight was the way the ultrasonic beams bouncing off the walls demonstrated the shape of the architecture we could not see...’

In July 2017, Sonic Shadows was reinstalled at SFMOMA for Soundtracks, the museum’s first large scale group exhibition exploring sound in contemporary art. The exhibition promised perceptual opportunities for discovering the museum’s new extension, which dwarfed the original building, nearly tripling gallery space, and transforming SFMOMA into the largest museum of modern art in the United States.

The ascending score that d’Evie proposed for the July 2017 encounter wasbased on echolocation exercises that train attention towards the quietest sounds. She asked those gathered in the atrium to listen for the loudest sound, to tune into its shape and intensity, then put that sound aside and listen for the next loudest, and so on, and so on, until finally they were listening to the quietest sound of all. This process was repeated over five levels, rising from the atrium floor to the fifth-floor oculus bridge. After each listening meditation, d’Evie passed around an audio field recorder, and invited the group to describe sounds they had heard. The cumulative, polyphonic recording is offered here as an ekphrastic echo of the ascending encounter, voiced by Devon Bella, Chris Downey, Robin Clark, Jill Sterrett, Megan Brian,Tanya Zimbardo, Martina Haidvogl, Don Ross, Fayen d’Evie, and Georgina Kleege.

The audiodescriptive recording revealed that the expansion of SFMOMA’s architecture, and the mechanics supporting the functioning of the new building, had vastly changed the listening experience of Fontana’s Sonic Shadows. In the wake of the perceptual displacements exposed by the ascending score, the curatorial team asked Fontana if a new title or year ought to have been attributed to the 2017 re-installation. Fontana insisted on staying with the original, leading Zimbardo to conclude that Sonic Shadows “was much more open of a score than we had imagined.”

Ascending/Descending Sonic Shadows (2019) is an artist book created by Fayen d’Evie and printer Trent Walter that experiments with print as a medium to translate an embodied score into a tactile and kinaesthetic reading encounter. Where the ascending score trained attentiveness towards the quietest sound, the book invites readers to feel for the quietest shifts in texture and composition across a page. The book also explores the potential for tactile reading to open pathways for trans-sensory conversation, including between blind and Deaf audiences.

The book alternates between debossed and printed spreads. The debossed spreads weremade by translating photographic documentation into a succession of screenprinting films, which were used to expose photopolymer plates that were relief printed to create tactile indentations. The source photographic images, by SFMOMA photographer Don Ross, ascend in vantage point, beginning at the ground floor of the atrium and moving progressively closer to the ultradirectional speakers Fontana fixed on mechanical arms on the oculus bridge. The printed pages are made using the same source photographs, films, and polymer plates as the debossed images, but are printed monotone in Concentrated Blue. While the debossed pages ascend, the interspersed printed pages reverse the sequence, descending from the oculus bridge to the atrium floor. The succession of pages, debossed and printed, meet in the middle, cross over, and continue their path of ascent or descent. The book can be read front to back (following the embossed ascent), or back to front (following the printed ascent), or back and forth (a perpetually circulating ascent or descent).

The films that mediated the translation from photographic to print form were created with dot sizes ranging from 35 to 10 lines per inch, disrupting the image surface at close range. With certain combinations of dot size and image, hallucinatory shimmering is induced. An epistemology of hallucination displaces the evidentiary status of photographic documentation. Following Roland Barthes’ notion of the photograph as a shared hallucination, an image can be engaged with as a conversational frame for the sharing of descriptive memories, counter-memories, imaginative fictions, and speculations.

 Still, whether debossed or printed, each printed image registers marks that index a representation of Fontana’s Sonic Shadows as installed in 2017, and distinct from its debut in 2010, before the expansive renovation of SFMOMA so radically changed the architectural space. Ascending / Descending Sonic Shadows is an archival proposition to conserve sensorial memories of a specific installation and experience of Fontana’s work. Conservation here is not the elusive goal of maintaining an object in its original form, but a more nebulous quest to carry forwards memories of ephemeral encounters with artworks, through corollaries, translations, re-descriptions, and discursive echoes.

Photopolymer relief and embossing with Braille and laser-cut soft cover.
Paper stocks: BFK Rives 250 gsm (relief and embossing), Ball & Doggett Colourplan 270 gsm (Braille) and Arches HP 300 gsm (soft cover)
DimensionsL 29.5 x 23 cm, 48 pages.
Edition of 30, including:
6 artist proofs, 6 exhibition reading copies, and 2 donated to braille libraries.

Ascending/Descending Sonic Shadows (2019) was launched at the exhibition Re-locating Echoes, Negative Press, 26 Oct - 23 Nov 2019

The book was featured in an exhibition for the Experimental Print Prize at Castlemaine Art Museum, 5 Dec 2019 - 10 May 2020

Ascending/Descending Sonic Shadows (2019) is held in artist book collections of SFMOMA, the National Gallery of Victoria, Deakin University, and private collections.

Read Fayen d’Evie and Lizzie Boon, ‘Ascending/Descending Sonic Shadows: Prologue + Tactile Reading Notes + Epilogue’, Art Writing in Crisis, Ed. Megan Patty and Brad Haylock. Berlin: Sternberg, 2021.

ASCENDING SONIC SHADOWS (2010) BY BILL FONTANA, SFMOMA, 19 JULY 2017

EDITED TRANSCRIPT

DB      I'm also noticing on the ground the reflection of the tile. You can see the oculus and the bridge, and   the moving panels of the speakers…

JS         I want to point out that if we literally took about two steps ... you'd be running into the old Botta staircase, which no longer exists… it was literally right behind us…

GK       I remember those stairs, I didn't quite register that they were all gone…

TZ       I think one of the things removing those stairs did was, you had this circle of the oculus that then was sort of cut by the very square, rectangular, heavy black marble form of the stairs, and now with this completely open you have a view of the piece that's very clear when you're in the atrium as well as, right now we're at a quiet moment, but I've been surprised at how much the very directional sound will then reflect off the surfaces down here, so people, I think this is probably their first encounter of that work and of the exhibition end ups sort of incidentally being here…

MH     We're standing underneath Sonic Shadows. On the same bridge is a large Calder hanging sculpture that is looming above us and it looks like, from my vantage point, it looks like dinosaur bones...

RC       This is the first time I'm really contemplating the Sonic Shadows from the ground level and it's interesting to me to listen to it and also to see it from below. I'm curious to understand how that will change as we move upwards…

JS         I feel like I'm standing behind a turbine where there's just a whole bunch of air moving, and it might be our HVAC system, I'm actually not sure what that is. It feels like it's behind me. Then, the cricket sounds that I hear of, I think with Sonic Shadows. I heard a rolling cart at one point. Very, very faint on the other side…

GK       Yeah, there's the constant of this air conditioning... But then a softer sound, but sort of medium sound is from Sonic Shadows, and to me it sounds like something skating across a surface. Like, sliding across a surface, and it's very directional. It goes from here to here. Here to here. And then I heard a car horn outside…

TZ       Yeah, I mean there's a kind of moving sound that we hear from Sonic Shadows that at times almost has a like skating or blade kind of quality, more so than I remember. But, then sometimes these more softer, trickly notes that are less directional, and I think in terms of the softest sound I could hear sort of a murmuring that I assumed was human voices, but far enough away that it didn't seem that they were in any kind of proximity. I wasn't sure where that was coming from.

MH     Yeah, I also heard that humming. That was the most dominant one, and then there were peaks from the street. Somebody honking, the traffic. I heard some doors opening and closing, and then I also heard the sound sculpture as the next layer, and I could not go below that.

MB      I thought about the Fontana piece and these skating sounds, and how they almost sound like ... I don't know. If you could imagine what the sound of like a flying insect would be or something… Because they do have this sense of movement to them, and so to me it then takes on like something living...

RC       I heard, with sort of similar intensity, the constant air handling system and the piece. The piece I think is quieter, but the variation in its type of sound and intensity held my attention equally from the thing that was louder and kind of monotone…

DB      I think I've heard those three registers of sound, also air moving, the kind of rotation of sound moving from above, and then also it's the sounds behind what seemed like a wall, almost sounded like a TV or a voice speaking. But I was struck by the sound in relation to the space, sounds being inside the room and outside the room…

[Elevator: Going up]

DR      Are we getting off here?

FdE      So let's gather along this wall. Maybe along this glass wall. … and when people are ready we'll do exactly the same listening exercise. So, a couple of minutes of tuning into the sounds and their different shape and intensity from the loudest to softest…

DR      Well, the obvious sound for me is the sound coming from the bridge, Sonic Shadows. The very mechanical sound. Then I tried to put that side and then I heard a knock on the door, put that aside, and then heard someone whistling...

MH     This is the dominant sound though is that sculpture, but it feels more bodied up here, it feels much fuller...

TZ       I think that there's a quality of the sound that feels more fleshed out from up here, where you can still hear it sort of moving to the sides, but it felt much more ... not violent, but kind of from the atrium, there's kind of more swooshes, whereas here I can still hear the sound as it's moving. Then there's this kind of rowing and fading almost ringing, or sort of bell-like resonance that is very clear from up here now as a sort of second sound that's coming from the piece, possibly from the loudspeakers…

MB      From up here the swoosh-skating insect-like sound becomes more a part of like a forest sound because there's many more sounds contributing to it, and so it's much more dense and complex…

CD      There was that more consistent clicking sound that would go by, somewhat of a tinny, metallic clicking sound, which is pretty prevalent, then the occasional drip sound behind it…

GK       I was trying this time to get down below the sort of middle range sounds. Sonic Shadows for me would be kind of a middle range. I was thinking about how my effort was always disrupted when there'd be an abrupt human-made sound of a door, or a voice, or something, and then I'd lose that ability to get lower down to the softer sounds.

DB      Yeah, that humming sound, or that ongoing kind of unbreakable sound that's recurring became more prominent and almost distracting from the other sounds. The kind of skating, moving sounds were there, but this humming became more impenetrable.

RC       When we first arrived on this level and all sort of lined up on a row in the overlook, I felt that the sound piece had become almost immersive in a way that was welcome. It had a weird kind of ritual tribunal feeling to me as we were all kind of perched and leaning forward…

FdE      As I was listening at this level it struck me… that process of pulling sounds to the side or allowing them to enter or not, reminds me of a way that Bill Fontana talks about this moment of realizing that as a composer the sounds around him were composing themselves, and that there was a certain agency on my part in listening to be able to place the certain sound from Sonic Shadows in with a kind of whistling that would be coming through, and then a quiet intensity of footsteps on the floor, and to choose to dismiss others as not part of the sonic composition that I wanted to experience at that moment…

JS         Exactly… We're gonna head up the elevator now…

FdE      Let's head over to the balcony that overlooks that central area again…         

RC       Well, I'm noticing how beautiful it is right here in the sun. The sun is falling on my arms, I'm also noticing that what goes on below is not occupying my attention anymore, and that we are so much more in the physical sphere of peace. There's a kind of anticipation as ascend each level. The sounds from the work seem more prominent or I guess more relatable in some way than they did earlier. I feel like I'm occupying the same space more than I was earlier…

GK       I'm struck by the rise and fall of this humming sound that also has a kind of small ringing sound in the middle of it. I miss the skating-rattley sound. That's gone away now…

TZ       I'm struck by what I hadn't really noticed is I think there's something in the programming that is putting attention to certain movements or sides of recording. For right now we're hearing the reemergence of the kind of more watery, the holosonic speakers, whereas for a moment prior, it was really just this sort of what I called a bell-like sound, it's more like a sustained hum, was much more resonate…

JS         Before I reflect a little bit I just want to say a word or two about what's really going on, if we're really hearing the building's lungs, or respiratory system. We have a completely different respiratory system in this building, so it could be in the programing, but our building literally doesn't operate consistently anymore. We're basically conditioning the air according to what a whole bunch of sensors are feeling up on the roof. So, I would imagine that certain sounds aren't initiated if certain equipment isn't called for, and so it's really somehow very much in the structure of our HVAC system. Because we weren't hearing the ricocheting sound, I became really interested in that ... You called it a bell, Tanya. That sort of ringing sound, that metallic sound, and listening to what I could hear within that one sound. At some point it really did resonate like a bell, and then at other times if felt very industrial. It felt really, if you could imagine the pipes. But it modulated…

CD      I was really struck by the difference of the sounds that are there now when they weren't there, and wondering is the whole system off? But, then you're faintly hearing the humming sound or something going by. But it's really faint and it made me really wonder if it was more the building that I was hearing or if that was still Sonic Shadows? … But, that more silent event, if that's part of the new Sonic Shadows, it is a very different experience that I think it becomes a lot more dynamic, and thinking about what comes and goes… how it's part of the system so certain things are turning on, turning off, adjusting itself. Therefore the whole experience, how the ear changes.

MH     I can confirm that is the case that the new boiler room is more dynamic, and so the work is more dynamic. … I felt that up here the sounds were a little bit flatter, which I thought was interesting because we were actually much closer. But I think on the third floor because the architecture of the building we were sort of below an entire bell that would collect all the sound and then sort of feed it to us. Whereas here we're much closer so we only hear bits and pieces of it, we don't get the full collection of it at once…

FdE      I had that sense as well, that I felt more divorced from some of the sounds back here, and certainly behind me felt kind of like a deader space and so I didn't need to tune my ears kind of backwards in the same way.

MB      I am also going to remark on the bell-sounding sound. That I was really sort of seductive and it made me not want to continue down to put it aside and listen to other sounds, because it was really mesmerizing and inviting and it felt meditative and so I really felt like wanting to hold onto it instead of putting it aside.

FdE      So, now we're going to go up the stairs. Is that right? Then you go up and across the bridge. What I'm wondering ... So, that bridge, it can sustain our weight, right? There's a lot of us…

RC       From here it sounds much more watery to me. It's splashing, and splishing, and floating, and less metallic than I remembered, and more immersive. The other thing is I'm standing as close as I can to the firm ground, this bridge makes me nervous.

MB      It's really lush when you're up here and in the bridge. It's really immersive. The skating, trickling sounds, almost sound like vigorously played violins. Then I also noticed you can hear the sounds of the mechanical arms that are moving the speakers around, they have their own hum and so they're not only transmitting sounds through cords, but their own sound.

GK       I'm struck by what changes when you're up here as opposed to down below. That ringing sound that we were all struck by below, I'm wondering now if that's the resonance of the bridge itself. But, I was also probably occupied by sort of revising my prior descriptions of the sounds, so the one that I was thinking of as a rattly noise now is more of a whooshy, liquid noise. There was a little bit of a hum of the mechanical arm moving the speaker…

CD      At first I thought someone was humming in the distance, and then I was like, No, this is too consistent. But, as the tone would change, and it was really interesting because it was subtle underneath, and I hadn't heard any of that before but hearing it, and I was feeling it in the rail, but I was also feeling it in my cane as the tip of hitting the ground, so I was feeling that in my hand, the grip of the cane. It was really interesting how all that sort of plays into this Sonic Shadow experience. I've never noticed that sound of the arm before, and I never would have guessed it was the arm…

MH     Being up here I feel like I'm in the center of the sounds and their circling around me and I'm really in the center. That was the most dominant one. Then, I was also surprised ... at first, I was like "What is this winding sound?" Then I realized it was the red arms. I don't know if it's a bad sign that we can hear them that loud, but that was the second sound that I heard. And then yes it was interesting to feel the vibrations on the railing in unison with the movement of the arms.

DB      The sound from up here occupied a more imaginary space. Almost as if they took on some kind of animal nature. I don't know if it's the same sound in every speaker, but this one where I've been meditating for awhile has these kind of wobbly animal or human gentle creature like sounds.

FdE      I found it really more anxious to the listening experience. Partly because we're so high now and I'm not used to that. Also, it's so hot from the sun coming through, and both things is making me really quite nervous, which means that my heartbeat is really heavy, and so this is the first level where my internal sounds are mixing in with the Sonic Shadows, and it made me realize that I was listening most calmly on the third floor… Up here I'm really immersed by it in a slightly fight or flight way.

TZ       I'm also really feeling the heat up here, and I think being at this level it's clear how much Bill was thinking very specifically about the kind of wonderful aspect of the boda oculus, these almost Space Odyssey 2000 kind of Sci-Fi white walls with the shifting sun and shadow. Also I think with this particular piece, this equipment has this very visual sort of white moving almost choreography…. The wetness to the sounds I'm really hearing from this level, that I wasn't hearing before…

DR      Today, aside from the heat, I actually noticed more of the droplet water type sounds, which I was really quite enjoying…

JS         I wanted to echo, for me I think when I was listening at first the wateriness that somebody mentioned was something that I remembered historically in the work, and I wasn't hearing it so clearly until we got right to the bridge. Then it came back.

DB      I think the process of coming back and revisiting a work reminds me perhaps how critical that is in our understanding. That maybe the experience should be thought of as having multiple encounters. Just in reaction, the first time I really felt sick being on the bridge, but because I think I could anticipate what was going on and where I'd be, then I was able to kind of figure out a way to navigate that, which was standing in one place with my eyes closed.

RC       I really appreciated the exercise of listening to the piece on multiple levels and isolating experiences in each space, and so it became kind of a cumulative or anticipatory experience...

CD      Stepping off the bridge into this space is the first time I ever felt like I exited the art. I felt the space change so much when I stepped off the bridge. Part of it was the vibration through my feet, through the cane, everything was gone… It really felt like I crossed a threshold…

MH     The first time I heard it I walked on the bridge and I'm like, "Wow, this sounds really different." And that's something I talked to the audio technician who was here. The thing was the boiler room got remodeled and they could not find the original sounds anymore, so I don't know if that was explained already but it's these contact microphones that are on the pipes, and the pipes have the water inside and this is what's being picked up. Because the water changed-

JS         Those pipes don't exist.

MH     Well, there's new pipes now and the water flows differently in them. That's why the work is so much more dynamic now because in the past it was so much more constant, and the sources were so much more constant, but for me coming from conservation it's so interesting how it's not just the pipes themselves that we would have need to conserve but it's even the water inside them, and how the water inside the pipe moves. You have no control over that.

RC       I was mostly reflecting on the direction that sound can happen, whether you emit it towards an artwork, or the artwork emits it towards you.

DR      I guess I'm most struck by the different sounds on each level and how subtle they can be and think when you come to the fifth floor bridge you really are hit with mechanics, and moving arms...