An Atlas of Searches
Written by Nuria Carton de Grammont Lara, PhD Cand. Concordia University. Translated from French to English by Stacey Brown.
Essay that accompanied the exhibition An Atlas of Searches, Montreal 2008
An Atlas of Searches is an installation that examines the geographic and physiognomic dimensions of silence. Influenced by the serenity of the Scandinavian landscape, Emily Mennerdahl subtly elaborates her work by way of a feeling of belonging to a territory, real or imagined, within which the horizon, saturated with nature’s infinite essence, erases every last trace of noise. Her work explores the spatial-temporal coordinates of silence in different ways, bringing into play the Internet, maps, micro-sculpture and also music. Cartography then becomes a tool that spatializes the desire to discover where silence dwells, while the rendering of letters into music defines the temporal nature of this research.
The study of the migratory patterns of the Swedish chaffinch that lives in Scandinavian countries, and of which only the female migrates during winter to forests in England, is at the root of the drawings « Eight Untitled Islands (from a study of the migration route of the Swedish Chaffinch) ». These geographic quasi-translucent forms are evidence of a voyage towards unknown lands, because while searching for new horizons, the birds go astray in these islands due to the impossibility of finding their way. Emily draws the silhouettes of their new migratory routes with the help of a silver nib that leaves indelible metallic particles on the paper. These enduring traces are the imprints of our relationship to certain places that, for one reason or another, remain unequivocally in our memories. With the passing of time, and through the chemical reaction known as oxidation, these drawings will change shades as they slowly fade, thus arriving at an image that differs from what it once was. Like the birds’ new routes, the piece moves towards a malleable destiny that is unknown to our eyes, that is to say unpredictable.
How do you map « silence » ? On a table is the piece An Atlas for Silence that seeks to expand upon this question. On the blank pages of a book of encyclopedic proportions, Emily has transcribed the geographic points of reference for the word « Silence », found in multimap.com over the course of a six-month period. Delivering not the mapped representation of the sought-after landscape, but simply the topographic information of its multiple locations, this reference tool allows one to position the exact coordinates of « Silence ». By indicating the location, the local climate and the closest modes of transportation, this tool collects the specific characteristics of each place and preserves the main clues of its existence. The simple coordinates preserved in this atlas identify the physiognomic traits of the many un-mapped landscapes, of the silent images that remain in our imagination.
Two peculiar figurines are placed on an enclosed stand that protects them, isolates them, like a display case showing precious objects. A Failed Monument to Silence is an encased monument that can be seen but not touched. In this micro-setting, Emily displays two foam earplugs that she has had recast in bronze by a goldsmith. At the very moment that these earplugs were transformed into metal, it was not their original form they retained, but the twisted form of having once been placed in the ears. This failed experiment immortalizes the memory of these objects that absorb sound, creating a fabricated silence and a pleasantly artificial atmosphere.
How do you translate literature into music? Is it possible to render in music a literary work? How to Make Words Into Music is dedicated to the exploration of this endeavor. Using a system she has invented, Emily translates all the words in the novel « Kallocain », by the Swedish author Karin Maria Boye, into musical notes (Do-C, Re-D, Mi-E, Fa-F, Sol-G, La-A, Si-H) that can be played by any instrument. Language thus becomes a score, sonic matter, to whose melody we do not listen. It is left to us to imagine the sound of this music that organizes, even structures the temporal dimension of, silence.
