DESCRIPTION:
Michele Spanghero "Ad lib."
sound sculpture (2013)
organ pipes, wood, automatic pulmonary ventilator
(dim. 91x34x82cm)

The sound sculpture ad lib. combines a medical machine for automatic pulmonary ventilation with a few organ pipes that play a musical chord to the constant rhythm of the mechanical breath. As a consequence of putting these two elements in connection, a short-circuit of sense is generated; an artificial organ that is metaphorically a mechanical requiem that sounds incessantly.
The title of the work ad lib., an abbreviation of the Latin "ad libitum", is a musical caption that gives the performer freedom of interpretation, allowing for example the repetition of certain lines of the score. The Latin expression "ad libitum" literally means "at the discretion", "at will" and is generally used to express the freedom of a person to act according to their own judgment in a given context.

www.michelespanghero.com

2013 © M. Spanghero - courtesy the artist