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Excerpt from Time Machine 2008. (duration 2:00 mins)
The soundtrack is intended to be listened to with headphones.
Mira Hunter's most recent installation piece Time Machine was created with her husband Derek Hunter, who is also a whirling dervish. It features 65 disposable cameras fixed to a 350 degree rail made from reclaimed lumber, activated by electromechanical solenoids. The photographs feature Mira who is a second-generation whirling dervish. They are animated in a sequence, giving the audience the visual experience of revolving around a whirling dervish, caught in a single moment. The images, often displaying unusual exposure disturbances and anomalies, are scanned and made into two films which will play simultaneously within a wooden yurt, installed at the SFU School for Contemporary Arts exhibition space at 611 Alexander Street in Vancouver, BC. Time Machine features a film projected on the inside of a yurt-like structure. The film was created with 65 disposable cameras fixed to a 350 degree rail made from reclaimed lumber, activated by electromechanical solenoids. The film loops, and is projected on two opposing walls. The yurt is constructed around a central load-bearing beam, that is a part of the permanent Barlett Gallery space. The entire structure is made from reclaimed, found or recycled materials. The roof is covered with handmade antique suzanis from Central Asia and old moving blankets. At the centre of the yurt, is a rounded bench, also covered with the same textiles as the roof. There is a single oval entrance. The bench organically wraps and curves around the load bearing beam, and hanging on the beam are 8 sets of headphones. The soundtrack was binaurally recorded, combining traditional chanting and singing, breathing, and wind harp. The soundtrack was created by Hunter while whirling and wearing the binaural recording equipment. On the back exterior, viewed through a crack in the planks, is a short stop-frame animation loop, called The Happiest Molecule of All. The music for the installation of this tiny loop is a zikr from the stunning album by Oruç Güvenc & Tümata, called Ocean of Remembrance. The soundtrack for the animation is played softly from small speakers concealed in the yurt's wall, leading the viewer to discover it. The yurt is accompanied by a series of light boxes, crafted from reclaimed metal and wood, displaying transparencies of film stills.
Excerpt from Time Machine, 2008. (duration 2:30 mins)
As Time Machine was intended to translate the essential qualities of whirling through technology, the sound component of the experience was a crucial element. Binaural sound recording microphones were used to produce the soundtrack for the piece. A step beyond stereo, these microphones are meant to mimic sound as the human ear encounters it. Binaural sound is a technique achieved by using two small microphones placed into the ear, or embedded in ear shaped molds on a sculpted human head. With playback through headphones, the quality of the binaurally recorded acoustics is very similar to how the ear customarily perceives local sounds in space. It differs from conventional stereo recordings, as it takes into account the travel of sound waves around the shape of the human head. This created different sound levels and timing between the left and right ears. To be effective binaural sound recordings need to be listened to with headphones, as the subtle sound time and space distinctions are lost when projected into the open air. The binaural microphones were plugged into a digital recording device that was small enough to hold as Derek whirled. All but one of the 8 sound layers used in the final composition were recorded binaurally while whirling. One of the interesting results of this process was the continuous soft sound of the leather prayer slippers scuffing the floor as I whirled to record each sound. This became a subtle undercurrent in all of the recordings, building or falling depending upon the number of sound layers.Several of the sound elements repeated for the duration of the recording, including the sound of the word Allah, which took on the character of a heartbeat. Two slightly different versions of the chant were captured at close range to accentuate the temporal sound qualities. What appeared to be an electronic drone were in fact instances of wind harp. The sung Illahi, a traditional Sufi hymn, was a recording of Seemi Ghazi, a professor at the University of British Columbia, and a teacher in the Rifai Marufi Order. The other voice recordings were executed during an impromptu zikr with Mira’s father, Raqib Brian Burke, who is also a teacher within the Rifai Marufi and Mevlevi Orders. He played a Kurdish Daf drum during the zikr. The final layer, acting as a constant mechanical pulse, was the sound of an old skipping 78 rpm record playing on an antique suitcase phonograph. The end of the record has a built in loop, which kept bringing the needle back to skip again and again creating a simple rhythm. I had made this recording a year previously, and only decided to include it at the last minute. It was a mono sample that in the finished composition panned from right to left on each beat to artificially reproduce a sense of movement.
