Chamber Music: Bloomsday sound-art piece riffs on Ulysses' urination references
A speaker in one of seven chamber pots - evoking an infamous line in Ulysses and creating a sound-art experience that marks 100 years of Joyce's epic
As James Joyce's Ulysses reaches the landmark 100th anniversary of its first publication on Thursday - Bloomsday - it dawns on you exactly how influential the labyrinthine tale of a drunken day out in Dublin has been, its turns of phrase and immortal quotables emerging and being referenced across art, media and entertainment.
For sound-artist Danny MacCarthy, hailing from Mallow and boasting a decades-long body of international work, it's been a near-lifelong love affair with the great writer's words, from his debut exhibition 'Who Killed James Joyce?', to participatory public art. One line has stayed with McCarthy in particular: Leopold Bloom's comparison of the distant sound of his wife Molly's use of the chamber pot to the sound of chamber music.
Having spent the past number of years working primarily with sound, he was hit with an unusual idea for Chamber Music, his upcoming installation at the Kirkos art space, on Dublin's Parnell Street. "The installation will consist of seven chamber pots of various sizes, with various-sized speakers installed. The core of my practice always has been in listening. When I saw that passage from Ulysses years ago, it always stuck with me, I thought it was an interesting concept for the centenary of the publication of Ulysses."
In true Joycean form, McCarthy collected 100 recordings approximating the deed in question from friends and colleagues, composing them into something of a sound-art symphony, composed for seven channels of sound, that plays on individual recordings, the gear they go out over, and the room that contains them - aiming for an immersive experience.
"I used [the recordings] like I would normally take any field recordings, and brought them back to the studio to process them, 'til I came up finally with the work that I was interested in. The way I have it programmed is that it won't sound the same at any one time, sound will move around the room from chamber pot to chamber pot and back again, and bounce around the room, basically. It'll be in a constant state of flux, it's indeterminate, what sounds will come out, and we won't be able to repeat particular sounds."
While McCarthy's approach to installation art and sound design might be new to casual arts observers, his work as part of Cork sound-art collective The Quiet Club, as well as his own multimedia body of work, has stood him in good stead to document the work, releasing as it will on a super-limited 7" picture disc on the day, courtesy of Dublin Vinyl - a bit of a coup, considering the current crunch on vinyl-pressing facilities.
It all speaks to McCarthy's own connection to Joyce - going right back to his aforementioned debut. Among said connections are public art projects like '100 Bottles for James Joyce', which saw him leave a hundred notes in specially-designed bottles in the Liffey, asking each person that finds it to write back - a project still ongoing since its launch in 1982; while 'Walls have hEars p433' saw him occupy three floors of the Crawford Art Gallery's stairwell.
As Ulysses' centenary approaches, McCarthy speaks on the great writer's lasting appeal. "I constantly find something new, and relate to it, particularly as a listener, because I think Joyce himself was a great listener, using his sonic descriptions in his work."
- Chamber Music: One Hundred Urinations for James Joyce is open from 11am to 5pm at Kirkos, Unit 44, Prussia Street, Dublin, on Bloomsday, Thursday June 16. 10 copies of an accompanying 7" vinyl will also be available on the day.
