Bridges in the Doldrums

Marian Goodman Gallery will be presenting a performative drum installation by Anri Sala – titled Bridges in the Doldrums (2016) during Frieze NY.

"Bridges in the Doldrums is based" on the musical arrangement "To Each His Own" (in Bridges) (2015), written by Anri Sala in collaboration with musician André Vida, composed for clarinet, saxophone, trombone, percussion and bass amplifier. It is a collage of 74 "song bridges" - a term used to designate the part of the song which transitions between the main theme and the end, whose melody and rhythm is significantly different from the rest of the composition - of pop, jazz and folk songs from different regions and eras. The "bridges" were compiled in order of tempo, creating a rising rhythm and the sensation of gradual acceleration. 

Each of the four drums (the three upside-down hanging ones and the one laid on the ground) emits recordings of one of the three wind instruments and the percussion. In them, the artist slightly altered the original sounds in order to emphasize the low frequencies and, as such, make the drumheads vibrate from the sound reverberating inside them. As a consequence, the drumstick move.

According to the artist, the low-frequency fragments of the song heard on the subwoofer will be like a fuzzy memory of a performance that took place in the past, but which still remains in our ears.