By: Amanda Pignotti
As visitors walk toward the blackened room of the E-Gallery located on the UTM (University of Toronto at Mississauga) campus, sound before sight entices the crowd. One by one, visitors unconsciously emerge as “listeners” of a work of art, prior to becoming the “viewer”. Intimidating and boisterous tones stampede out from the E-Gallery, drawing in curious yet skeptical listeners before the piece is even seen!
The almighty creator and intelligence behind Aquaeolian Whirlpool (1990), a sound installation piece, is Gordon Monahan. Monahan is a contemporary and internationally renowned sound and multimedia artist who began his career as a pianist. The exhibition, Seeing Sound: Sound Art, Performance & Music displays Aquaeolian Whirlpool at UTM. This audacious piece of artwork investigates the musical potential of water.
Gordon Monahan, ‘Aquaeolian Whirlpool’ (1990)
Visitors stride closer to the work of art, and within seconds they become intoxicated by the roaring and rhythmic sounds emanating from the four black walls of the E-Gallery. Visitors finally step into the dimly lit gallery, soaking in its mystical aura. Naturally inquisitive eyes dash to the right of the room. Standing brightly in a dark room is Monahan’s Aquaeolian Whirlpool; at 10 feet tall this work of art encompasses a whirlpool of bright blue water in a plexiglas container. A tornado-like whirlpool is achieved by sucking water out from the bottom and back into the plexiglas container through a side tube. As this process occurs rapidly, the sea-colored water forms a vortex-like body flowing across an array of 35-meter long piano wires. Monahan himself declares, “as water rushes across the piano wires anchored in the Plexiglas container, ‘aquaeolian tones’ become activated.” Booming tones escort the flow of the whirlpool, constituting a mini tornado look-alike. Piano wires continue to rise vertically to a soundboard allowing ‘aquaeolian tones’ to amplify. Men, women and children seem equally fascinated by both the sound and sight of this enormous installation.
Gordon Monahan, ‘Aquaeolian Whirlpool’ (1990)
I sit at the gallery as an avid volunteer, and spend many hours with this particular piece. Each visitor’s reaction including my own, seems to form an analogous pattern consisting of sound enticement and intoxication, followed by a mystical visionary experience. Despite this, there are those who question this piece in a somewhat negative manner. Some visitors allege, “I could have done this” and “that is not really art, look at the great painters of the past, now that was art!” Although each visitor is entitled to his or her own personal assumption, wouldn’t paintings of antiquity bore us contemporary folks? Haven’t we studied and seen enough landscape and portrait paintings? Art, and what constitutes a “work of art” is constantly being re-invented and revolutionized. It is precisely this that makes Aquaeolian Whirlpool amusing and appealing to the eye as well as the senses.
Gordon Monahan, ‘Aquaeolian Whirlpool’ (1990)
When meeting with Monahan prior to the opening of his exhibition, he mentioned he had not once thought to produce this work in the form of a square. Instead he chose a cylindrical shape to house his vortex, an example of thinking outside of the box, literally!