Portfolio |
China Blue is an internationally exhibiting artist who pursues the intersection of sound and architecture. She uses sound as a sculptural materal integrating it in installations to create acoustically driven environments. She is an adjunct professor and fellow at Brown University in the United States. Her work has been shown, galleries and non-profit spaces in Finland, Sweden, France and the US. She has shown at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in Australia and the Armory Fair in New York. Her work has been reviewed by the New York Times, Art in America, Art Forum, artCritical, NY Arts to name a few. She has been interviewed by France 3 (TV), for the film “Com-mu-nity” produced by the the Architecture Institute of America and was the featured artist for the 2006 annual meeting of the Acoustic Society of America. "Sound is one of the most challenging yet promising media for contemporary artistic practices." - Miguel Amado, Rhyzome |
The Secret Arch, 2007 The Secret Arch is an interactive installation based on the secret arch, an architectural feature located at Grand Central Station, New York. There, when you whisper into one corner of the arch you can be heard clearly on the opposite side. Users of the Secret Arch are invited to interact with it by recording their passions, fears, phobias or secrets at the arch on site. If you are shy or far away you can also send a short, one sentence recording or an e-mail (which will be converted into voice), to secretarch(at)gmail.com.
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The Calls, 2007 This is a sound piece that is an ode to the World Trade Center. The piece is based on actual recordings of phone calls and dispatches made during and after the attacks and, air traffic controller recordings just prior to the impacts. Dial tones form the overlying sound structure. The tones selected are all derived from available statistics about the World Trade Center: how tall it was, how much it cost to build it, how many square feet of office space was available per floor, how many underground levels there were, the numbers of the floors of the sky lobbies, when it was hit, how many people died etc. As an acoustical element, the usage of dial tones is central because the cell phones were the only mode of communication available during the search and recover phase. The creation of this piece was very important to me because it is only now, 5 years later, that I can distance myself, somewhat, from that event on September 11, 2001. My office at that time was on the 86th floor of WTC #1 for 3 years. We had moved out of the building only 2 weeks prior and we were still in the process of moving into our new quarters a few blocks away when 9/11 occurred. This piece underscores the failure of communication. Photograph: Seth Horowitz, PhD. |
Negative Ellipse, 2007 Mixed media A sound installation which recreates a segment of the negative space of one of R. Serra’s Ellipses, with a sampled sound of the steel vibrating heard in the inside of the speaker ellipse and the ambient sounds of the room on the outside.
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"Skratch," 2006 Sound Installation
The recording of a pool game with friends is seen installed as a 7.1 installation that was shown at the Acoustical Society of America’s conference. The 7.1 speaker system was appropriate because the placement mimiced the pockets on the pool table and created a very dynamic spacialization of the work. Team members: China Blue, Suzan Dionne, David Opdyke & Richard Humann
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Mikey vs. Fabio, 2004 Mixed media sound installation This piece is a recording of a ping pong game. The installation of the piece is designed so that speakers are on opposite ends of a room. This will mimic the location of the players. The sound track is panned so that the movement of the ball will pan from one side of the room to the other and each wall will then become the location of the paddle. The audience when standing in the middle of the room will hear the ball whizzing over head. Review What does sound look like? If some noises, water rushing, trains, rolling, birds chirping, bring predictable associations, the experiment of China Blue’s "Mikey vs. Fabio" adds a welcome geometric abstraction to the mix. In a room filled with the sounds of a ping pong game (played presumably by the Mikey and Fabio of the title), the viewer is surprised to see not a table tennis game in progress but rather a three-part painting diagramming the movement of the ball throughout the recorded match. The sounds take place in time while the painting freezes it, collapsing an audibly interminable set into one flat space. Which medium best captures the spirit of the game? If you can describe the sound of one hand clapping, I’ll tell you the answer. Lori Waxman |
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"Deep Sleep," 2004 Combined media with video |
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Dijon Chimes, 2004 Mixed Media with sound Installation at L'Atheneum, Dijon France |
Inside view |
Architectural Therapy exhibition, 2003 “Laura’s Jabbering Jabberwocky” Mixed media with movement sensor and microprocessor. 13w x 41h x 17d
Lance Fung Gallery, New York, NY |
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Architectural Therapy exhibition, 2003
“Plant it in the Love Zone”
Lance Fung Gallery, New York, NY |
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"Think Tank," 2002 Mixed media with circuit and movement sensor Sonoma Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Rosa, CA |
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"Sound Coat," 2002 Mixed media with CD player and movment sensor Sonoma Museum of Contemporart Art, Santa Rosa, CA Blue’s melding of unlike elements also suggests her desire to reweave
the disparate elements and fragmented nature of contemporary life. -Terri Cohen, Art Week
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"Josephine and Marion's Vent," 2001 Mixed media with movement sensor Hopper House, Nyack, NY |
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Architectural Therapy exhibition, 2003
“Cultivating Destiny”
Mirrors
The mirror reflects the spirit of the person and multiplies this energy endlessly with infinite reflections. Everything is a cause, and is caused, absolute and relative at the same time, making up an endless series of conditioned origination.
Lance Fung Gallery, New York, NY |
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Architectural Therapy exhibition, 2003
“Orbital Surge”
Lance Fung Gallery, New York, NY |
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Architectural Therapy exhibition, 2003 “Reflecting the Blind Spot” Lance Fung Gallery, New York, NY |
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Architectural Therapy exhibition, 2003 “Mediating Dilemma” |
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