Steve Parker’s brass audio sculptures are a delightfully weird melange:
Activated by touch, “Ghost Box” plays randomized audio segments on a loop, including the ticks of Morse Code, the chorus of spirituals, and the blows of the shofar and Iron Age Celtic carnyx. Each time someone makes contact with a part of the wall sculpture, a new noise emits.
The artists writes,
The Ghost Army was an Allied Army tactical deception unit during World War II. Their mission was to impersonate other Allied Army units to deceive the enemy. From a few weeks before D-Day, when they landed in France, until the end of the war, they put on a “traveling road show” utilizing inflatable tanks, sound trucks, fake radio transmissions, scripts, and sound projections. The unit was an incubator for many young artists who went on to have a major impact on the post-war US, including Ellsworth Kelly, Bill Blass, and Arthur Singer.
Years ago, in another life, I was a Radio Officer on Merchant ships and so hearing ‘The Quick Brown Dog’ in Morse Code brought back many memories. We used to send ‘The Quick Brown Fox’ when learning and practicing Morse code. And, if my old ears do not deceive me, there is also the sound of Russian jamming signals in there. In my day (long, long ago), the Russians (it was believed) used to send out what were thought to be over the horizon radar signals. The signals were known as ‘woodpecker’ signals because of the rat-a-tat-tat noise they made. The woodpecker was a real nuisance to those of us trying to send radio messages back to shore. Happy days!