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    Swarms
    4:06

    Eli Keszler

    In Swarms, Keszler repurposes the severed pipes in an arched hallway of the SculptureCenter basement to commemorate their functionality and forge a landscape for immaterial responses. Composed of recorded and live acoustic and mechanical sources, Keszler's composition reflects swarm models and emergent behaviors observed in nature and developed through digital systems, patterns that mimic and layer but never connect. Using sound to connect the cellar corridors, pipes distribute audio throughout the space, questioning the physical divisions between distinctive hallways. Individual lines of sound are layered until their patterns are lost in a percussive stasis.

    In another large corridor, the audio channels enter through pipes to activate stretched piano wires shaped in a torqued 'X'. Glissandos slowly shift up and down the wire in a progressive circuit, tracing the sonic contour of the X's visual pattern. This complex series of spatial and sonic interventions serves as a setting for a solo drum performance by Keszler. Together, the installation and performance construct a swarming network of sounds that is both static and fluid, recalling the organized chaos of collaborative intelligence in natural and digital spheres.

    Eli Keszler presented Swarms, a composition and installation created for SculptureCenter's lower level, on August 22, 2015, intermittently from 12-5pm, in conjunction with SculptureCenter's LIC Block Party.