Kubisch is one of our prime contemporary experimentalists, the rightful heir to Mssrs. Cage, Oliveros, Boulez, Schaeffer, et al. Renowned for her wonderfully austere yet piquant sound installations, Kubisch has managed to walk a fine line between audacity and ambition. Interestingly enough, many of her recent installations work convincingly as isolated listening experiences; this alone is testament to her peculiar sensibilities and rationales as to what constitutes sound art.
La Ville Magnetique is subtitled 24 Electromagnetic Walks in Poitiers. A constantly evolving work in progress, the foundation of Kubisch's work lies in the variegated textures and striations existing in the electromagnetic fields brought about by many everyday objects: washing machines, light posts, fluorescent bulbs, the hum of traffic, etc. Few realize that the fluctuations of these "actualized" fields create their own unique patterns and ecosystems; Kubisch is well aware otherwise, and her capturing and subtle manipulations of these arcing storms of drones bring their fascinating (ab)normalities to brisk life. Often, the effect is as if one is trapped inside some immense conduit through which electricity pulses against the forces of nature aligned against it. At other instances, Kubisch allows the natural flow, the almost gentle pull-and-push of the current, to dictate its own outcome. All of this results in a purring slipstream of sound that even shorn of context makes for a wholly involving experience.
This work could have remained a static example of simply recorded sound, of manmade contrivances, well, magnified, and indeed amplified, to reveal their multi-dimensional contours and colorful fingerprints. Kubisch manages to be both Cage-y and Rothko-esque in equal measure: the minimalist pulses exude an alien and definitively other quality, and yet could either be intensely scrutinized or allowed to seep into the background. Either way, it approximates an unqualified walk on the wild side.
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Darren Bergstein 2010-07-25
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