A project by Ariel Bustamante, 2016-ongoing
The Conversation Room is a project developed during Ariel Bustamante’s Artist-in-Residence stay at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Aalto University (2015-2016). The work invited the general public to participate in one-to-one verbal encounters inside of an acoustically isolated, biodegradable sculpture. The artifact was designed over a long period in collaboration with traditional building specialists and the school of Electrical Engineering in Aalto.
Over the course of two years, Bustamante and his team practiced conversation as a method for interpersonal self-exploration, developing techniques to subvert the norms and habits that operate when we think with others. The project is, in this sense a relational space inviting participation, and opens different modes of listening to ourselves, friends and strangers alike.
The Conversation Room functions as a unique ecological architectural space, and has been installed in varied locations in Helsinki and Espoo cities in Finland.
As a public sound sculpture specifically designed to held one-on-one conversations, it acoustically isolates itself from external noises, to provide a protective, private, intimate and undisturbed environment generated by the stillness and slowness of silence. Depending on the circumstance and with the consent of all the participants, the sculpture has the ability to record conversations inside of the room and play them afterwards to the environment; it can play excerpts or entire sessions.
Recording and playing the conversations outside the sculpture serves as a way to capture and communicate the sensible and complex character of the conversations, a character that is beyond words and the literal interpretation of them, an essence that can be transmitted vicariously throughout sound. In this sense sound served to tell others what really this project is about so they feel attracted, appealed and eventually come to our sculpture and participate.
About the artist:
Ariel Bustamante is a self-taught artist based in La Paz, Bolivia. His practice concentrates on long-term processes of both craftsmanship and experimental research. Based on the physical, cognitive and social aspects of listening, Bustamante produces highly complex auditory spaces that are informed by the production of experiential methods of inquiry.
He has exhibited his projects at the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe/Germany; Harvestworks, New York/USA; Linda Gallery, Beijing/China; The Transitio Electronic Arts Festival, Mexico City/Mexico; The Wye, Berlin/Germany; The White Building, London/Great Britain; Liquid Architecture, Melbourne/Australia; National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago/Chile; and the Venice Biennale 2022, among others.
