Margaret Noble

Artist Statement

I create interactive, multi-sensory sculptures and installations layered in sound and gesture. I design these experiences with a diverse array of materials using archetypal and experimental forms. I inhabit these shapes with electro-acoustic sounds and tactile controls so that they come alive with intimate, participatory moments. Through visual, sonic and kinetic interplay, I seek to provoke questions about contemporary identity and human relations. Specifically, I incorporate public and private histories from the narratives left behind by families, media archives and technology. I play with time travel as I move between generational influences, historical myths, and the future.

My ongoing artistic research in this body of work is titled Conduits. Through informal archeological investigations, Conduits capitalizes on the challenges of memory, perception, and gesture. These works are designed to immerse audiences in artifacts of public hierarchies, private traumas, miscommunications and conflicted identities. These ideas are invoked by tactile gestures and ephemeral sonic moments. As animated objects, these sculptures transform space and place for participants as they navigate their own comfort levels, the sounds they perceive and the relationship between these ideas. This interplay between the various media and the participants’ responses emerge as spontaneous narratives told through relational aesthetics. For example, in my work, I Long to be Free from Longing, I present a collection of intimate sounds embedded in a traveler’s suitcase and inspired by Frederick Holderins’ poem, “All the Fruit.” In this suitcase, a series of boxes lay waiting to be touched and heard with the invitation to covet things that aren’t there. In my music box sculptures, What Was, What Is, What Is Not and A Score for Conversation, I use various tonal sound patterns controlled by interactive paper loops to explore unnoticed histories and unresolved communications. In my pieces, What Lies Beneath and Head in the Sand, I offer audiences a chance to explore social anxiety through light, sound, and duration.

For all works, there are many access points that create unique and personal time-based experiences. These moments shift and vary with each participant’s interaction. I am exploring how we understand meaning and context through our experience of interconnected media. I am interested in creating personal moments in public places. Ultimately, Conduits questions the reliability of material objects in ephemeral spaces.

www.margaretnoble.net