A Boxer's Soundscape:
The Battle During and Between Rounds
Desiree D'Alessandro
2011
Immersive Audio Installation, Synchronized Boxing Interval Timer
Three 2-Minute rounds, 1-Minute Intervals; Infinite Loop
The Battle During and Between Rounds
Desiree D'Alessandro
2011
Immersive Audio Installation, Synchronized Boxing Interval Timer
Three 2-Minute rounds, 1-Minute Intervals; Infinite Loop
Installation Description:
This minimal installation invites viewers to be immersed in a directional audio environment, providing the unique opportunity to hear first-hand what it sounds like to get inside the ring for a competition duration of three two-minute rounds with one-minute intervals. To create this work, D'Alessandro integrated binaural microphones and a digital recorder into her headgear in order to capture the visceral data of what happens inside the ring, from an intimate perspective other than that acquired via ringside or televised broadcasting. The competition rounds attempt to highlight and quantify the physical sounds of the blows, the breathing, and the grunts. During the interval breaks, D'Alessandro takes a creative approach to depict the mental battle that ensues between rounds, resulting in a disorienting channel-shifting overlay of advice derived from transcriptions of her video-documented training sessions with boxing coaches across the nation.
Why Boxing?
Since 2010, Desiree D'Alessandro has engaged the sport of boxing as her medium in efforts to explore the correlations between Art and Athleticism. Her works have ranged from athletic vinyl banners, found object displays in the gear and equipment associated with the sport, endurance performances in collaboration with influential boxing figures, and waged bouts on a self-constructed, fully dressed ring as a type or artistic performance and vice versa. The sport of boxing resonates with D'Alessandro for several reasons: (1) It has had a profound impact on her relationship with her father, who was a fighter and watched televised fights with her since she was a child, (2) It is a potent topic in terms of contemporary sports and gender studies as Women's Boxing is debuting in the 2012 London Olympics and (3) The personal, intimate, and individual nature of the sport is captivating as a metaphor for battles we all must face.
Kim Beil's Writeup (Excerpted from The Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum's 2011 Call For Entries Catalog):
Desiree D’Alessandro, who just received her MFA from UCSB’s Art Department, has been the object of her own art practice for the past year. Though her training as an amateur boxer began as a quest for personal improvement, she soon discovered a strong correlation between the art of her work in the ring and other, more conventional artistic practices.
“I think sometimes the product of artistic work doesn’t have to be something so physically evident as a drawing or a sculpture,” says D’Alessandro. “What excites me about boxing—and about art-making—is the feat itself and not necessarily the marks that were made. For instance, boxing as a sport is very concerned with the visible gesture: judges count punches or watch for a boxer to go down, in the same way that often what is important about an artwork is the evidence of the artist’s presence or the marks that he or she made. But emotionally and mentally there’s a lot there that can’t be visibly documented and these are the aspects that I’m trying to convey here.”
For this installation, A Boxer’s Soundscape, D’Alessandro wore stereo microphones strapped to her headgear during the three, two-minute rounds of a sparring session. The first-person perspective of these sounds allow a close identification with the boxer that is often absent from more conventional representations of boxing found either in televised matches or in Hollywood recreations.
This minimal installation invites viewers to be immersed in a directional audio environment, providing the unique opportunity to hear first-hand what it sounds like to get inside the ring for a competition duration of three two-minute rounds with one-minute intervals. To create this work, D'Alessandro integrated binaural microphones and a digital recorder into her headgear in order to capture the visceral data of what happens inside the ring, from an intimate perspective other than that acquired via ringside or televised broadcasting. The competition rounds attempt to highlight and quantify the physical sounds of the blows, the breathing, and the grunts. During the interval breaks, D'Alessandro takes a creative approach to depict the mental battle that ensues between rounds, resulting in a disorienting channel-shifting overlay of advice derived from transcriptions of her video-documented training sessions with boxing coaches across the nation.
Why Boxing?
Since 2010, Desiree D'Alessandro has engaged the sport of boxing as her medium in efforts to explore the correlations between Art and Athleticism. Her works have ranged from athletic vinyl banners, found object displays in the gear and equipment associated with the sport, endurance performances in collaboration with influential boxing figures, and waged bouts on a self-constructed, fully dressed ring as a type or artistic performance and vice versa. The sport of boxing resonates with D'Alessandro for several reasons: (1) It has had a profound impact on her relationship with her father, who was a fighter and watched televised fights with her since she was a child, (2) It is a potent topic in terms of contemporary sports and gender studies as Women's Boxing is debuting in the 2012 London Olympics and (3) The personal, intimate, and individual nature of the sport is captivating as a metaphor for battles we all must face.
Kim Beil's Writeup (Excerpted from The Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum's 2011 Call For Entries Catalog):
Desiree D’Alessandro, who just received her MFA from UCSB’s Art Department, has been the object of her own art practice for the past year. Though her training as an amateur boxer began as a quest for personal improvement, she soon discovered a strong correlation between the art of her work in the ring and other, more conventional artistic practices.
“I think sometimes the product of artistic work doesn’t have to be something so physically evident as a drawing or a sculpture,” says D’Alessandro. “What excites me about boxing—and about art-making—is the feat itself and not necessarily the marks that were made. For instance, boxing as a sport is very concerned with the visible gesture: judges count punches or watch for a boxer to go down, in the same way that often what is important about an artwork is the evidence of the artist’s presence or the marks that he or she made. But emotionally and mentally there’s a lot there that can’t be visibly documented and these are the aspects that I’m trying to convey here.”
For this installation, A Boxer’s Soundscape, D’Alessandro wore stereo microphones strapped to her headgear during the three, two-minute rounds of a sparring session. The first-person perspective of these sounds allow a close identification with the boxer that is often absent from more conventional representations of boxing found either in televised matches or in Hollywood recreations.
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