Alison Bigg | Auricals

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Alison Bigg, “Aurical no. 1.,” 2022

.stainless steel, plastic (Image courtesy of the artist)

Opening Reception: Friday September 20th, 7 -10 pm

Alison Bigg’s recent body of work, Auricals (artist’s word), examines communication tools in the context of a plugged-in world where the cacophony of noise and distraction is constant. The exhibition includes found object sculpture, printmaking processes, a silent artist’s talk using ASL interpretation, and an experiential ‘aurical chamber’.

In these series of works, Bigg responds to the recent seismic shift in her life – degenerative hearing loss as a result of otosclerosis. Otosclerosis is caused when one of the bones in the ear becomes stuck in place; when this bone is unable to vibrate, sound ceases to travel through the ear and hearing becomes impaired. Utilizing these objects/artifacts, the artist explores what it means to hear/be heard/not hear, and suggests that by embracing silence, authentic listening can be enhanced.

As a means of grasping her new circumstance, Bigg was drawn to the disruption between signal and noise: ‘signal’, being the information, and ‘noise’ as the static that gets in the way or obscures the information. This has been her starting point for the found sculpture with the intention of presenting objects that, in one way or another, suggests the transmission of information.  Bigg’s assemblage of cones, tubes, and filters are made into a cohesive and elegant installation through the restrained palette of silver and gold, as well as clear glass and black metals, with the colour orange used as a restrained highlight. For this reason, her concentration of materials does not carry the disjointed incongruity of so much found sculpture. The reflective surfaces offer an additional layer of information, the way an image can reverberate as though it is sonic, but the hot shock of colour is meant to suggest danger, and it is both everywhere throughout the installation and used formally to lead the eye while adding a visual balance. The sound muffling chamber invites the audience to spend some time reflecting in a quiet place. This experiential ‘aurical chamber’ was inspired by Bigg’s research into American composer and a major proponent of experimental and electronic music, Pauline Olivero (1932-2016), and her theory of deep listening. She maintained that, within sound buffering semi-anechoic chambers, it is possible to achieve heightened awareness by tapping into feelings and sensations to discern meaning.

Each assemblage in Bigg’s exhibition is a different communication tool. An aurical may be used for critical listening, as a hearing aid, as an information filter, or as a sound amplifier. It is up to the viewer to ‘guess’ what each tool might be used for, inviting the audience to collaborate, creating an aspect of imaginative playfulness and curiosity.

A parallel project to Auricals is the artist book, #lostfoundsound, produced in a limited edition with Victoria-based micro press, FLASK. In a series of hand-pulled prints with bling embossing, pronto-lithography, stencil, and silkscreen, Bigg once again is fusing historical data, practical knowledge, and her own interpretation of the subject – that is, how information is received and transmitted. Specifically, how language migrates from sonic to visual (what was signaled is now signed).

In confronting her disability, Bigg’s artistic process involved grieving at first, which led to a new understanding of this loss as a potential gain. Through losing her hearing, she found she was able to engage with the world on a different level. It is with this intimate curiosity that Bigg began what she calls ‘listening through seeing’.

Each assemblage is a different communication tool. An aurical may be used for critical listening, as a hearing aid, as an information filter, or as a sound amplifier. It is up to the viewer to ‘guess’ what each tool might be used for, inviting the audience to collaborate, creating an aspect of imaginative playfulness and curiosity.