Kevin Harris: Physical exaggerations in controlled dream space

In Physical exaggerations in controlled dream space – a new performative sound installation designed specifically for projects+gallery – Kevin Harris attempts to create a synthetic physical environment where approximations of matter can be achieved. By using exaggerated notions of mass, inertia and gravity, the piece uses sound to simulate invisible physical bodies accelerated within a space.

Describing the inspiration for this work, Harris writes: "The conceptual origins of the piece are a series of reoccurring dreams I had as a child. In these dreams, I would stand alone surrounded in all directions by infinite black space. When I would move, I could feel soft, invisible objects moving through me. The faster I moved, the heavier these soft objects appeared. If I ran, the objects would completely encompass my body until they regulated and even controlled my movement.

The technical execution utilizes a theoretical concept that selects various degrees of phase angles found in high speed oscillations and creates equivalent physical shapes to be
expressed within a room of specific dimensions. The room resonances are simulated by the mathematical process of convolution and combined with various oscillations to accomplish movement, depth, and position of the invisible objects."

About the artist:
Kevin Harris (b.1975, Oklahoma City) is a multimedia artist, curator and electrical engineer whose practice seeks to create communal conditions by which to explore experimental psychology and fictitious emotions. His most recent work uses multi-channel audio and video synthesis to present complex sensory environments and has been featured at the
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Expo Chicago, the Luminary (STL) and the Charlotte Street Foundation (KC), among many other regional and national venues. Harris holds a BA in Music from the University of Oklahoma and an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; he lives and works in Saint Louis.