Perspective

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Perspective is a sound project featuring contributions from disabled participants worldwide. In this work, Molly Joyce posed questions to each participant: asking what access, care, interdependence, cure, control, weakness, strength, and assumption mean to them.

This first iteration features contributions from 18 respondents across a range of physical, cognitive, vision, and hearing impairments, and includes veterans, musicologists, activists, and pageant models. Perspective frames access as not only accommodation but aesthetic, with this iteration combining aural playback of the interviewees’ voices with open text captions of their answers to allow for multiple sensory inputs and interpretations. Viewers and listeners have the option to “choose their own adventure” in selecting the order for listening. We invite you to start with whatever concept speaks most naturally to you and proceed to your next choice. We also encourage your own contributions to Perspective - please submit your answer to the corresponding text box below each question’s video. These answers will form an open archive for the project, and may be used in future iterations.

Perspective features audio mixing by Michael Hammond undertaken with consultation from Sandy Guttman, Curatorial Assistant at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and project participants include:
Day Al-Mohamed
Sabrina Epstein
Shannon Finnegan
Matthew Flanagan
David Furukawa
Nicole Kelly
Miso Kwak
Robert McRuer
Michael Marceau
Diego Mariscal
Robin Marquis
Yoshi Nakamura
Adam Roberge
Tom Shakespeare
Stefan Sunandan Honisch
Peter Wehrli
Erin Weierbach
Alice Wong


Audio Described Music below

Access - A bed of clustery organ drones, gradually unfolding and changing. Near the end a high repeated cluster of pitches perpetually repeats and drives towards a propulsion for a shift in perspective on what access can and should be.

Care - Oscillating high organ notes begin, resembling a fast medical monitor. A female voice quickly joins with a repeated, ascending melodic phrase. This gradually breaks down and joins the organ pulses, adding dissonance and tension. Midway through lower organ chords enter and liberate the track to less tension.

Control - Strong repetition of a low, bass drum-like club beat. High, tick-tock like pulses join the club beat, and near the end all becomes more and more distorted, essentially losing control.

Weakness - High organ drone begins track, with singing female voice gradually entering, meandering throughout and searching for grounding.

Strength - Distorted, pulsing vocal humming oscillate between consonance and dissonance, almost like a muted and covered sound. Near the end increases in intensity with added delays and distortion, with a high vocal line overtaking in power and context.

Cure - Fantastical, arpeggiated high organ figure begins the track, followed by entrance of a low, distorted and forceful bass organ line. Near the very end a high vocal cluster enters, driving the track to the end.

Interdependence - High repeated organ arpeggios begin with a low fan noise and high vocal clusters oscillating beneath, setting up a monotonous yet possible feeling. Midway through a low vocal line enters, grounding the material.

Assumption - A sequence of minor, sad organ chords accompanying an echo-like, ascending vocal line.