speaker bags

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Inspired by Marc Weidenbaum’s post “Speaker Bag“, I went and collected some of my favorite wrapped speakers from previous projects.

In a dark room, an overhead spotlight illuminates a circle on the floor. Small instruments and a glass vessel hang from the ceiling; another vessel is on a small table in the middle of a pile of seaweed. In the background outside of the circle of light, a speaker on a stand is wrapped in white fabric, looking a bit like a ghostly human figure.
Water the Sounds, with Anne Hollænder. Exhibited at The Cannery at South Penobscot, 2017.

Water the Sounds, 2017, with Anne Hollænder. We had a speaker on a stand at head height to play Anne’s singing voice, but it looked too technical until we wrapped it with white tyvek fabric, which converted it into a ghostly figure.

→ Video of Water the Sounds (2017)

a glass vessel hangs from the ceiling in a white circle of light against a stark black background. Another vessel lies directly below it on a small wooden table.
Water the Sounds, with Anne Hollænder. Exhibited at BioBAT Art Space, Brooklyn, 2024.

Water the Sounds, the 2024 version. This time we wrapped the speaker in black synthetic fabric, and with the very stark lighting in the space, it almost vanished. In fact, you can’t even see it in the above photo – it’s in the black space to the left. It would often surprise visitors when Anne’s voice rang out.

Close view of spotlit glass vessels, one suspended from above by ropes and the other on a small wooden table below. In the background, Anne Hollænder works on a computer on music for the installation. The black-shrouded speaker is visible just outside of the spotlight.
Anne Hollænder working on music during the installation of Water the Sounds at BioBAT, 2024.

With a little bit more light, you can see the speaker standing there behind the main installation. It really felt like having another person standing shyly outside of the spotlight.

→ More on Water the Sounds (2024)

Close view of a small speaker wrapped in reflective plastic foil in the center of a yellow cone illuminated with tiny white lights. It's all suspended from a rope, against a dark background.
A small speaker wrapped in reflective plastic foil in the center of a yellow cone illuminated with tiny white lights. It's all suspended from a rope. In the background is a performance space with tables cluttered with instruments, all silhouetted against a projection screen
Bee speaker at Foulbrood Orchestra performance at BioBAT Art Space, 2024

For a performance with Foulbrood Orchestra (me, Thessia Machado, John Roach, and Concetta Abbate) I wrapped a speaker loosely in mylar foil, which added a wonderful fluttering or buzzing sound, depending on what sound was playing on the speaker. It was suspended from about 12 feet up so we could swing the speaker around and even over the audience’s head as it played.

→ About the performance

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