Resonator  2019

In the series Resonator musical sculptures, musical instruments from around the world — panpipes, a tuba, a agogo, a zither, a cello, a bass guitar, drums and a tuba— are joined as geometrically abstract forms that create new sounds.

Inspired by the first Resonator’s multipart structure, the three additional works from the series, combine found and fabricated instruments from different traditions but the same families—wind, string, and percussion, respectively. These pieces dismantle the sovereignty of a single resonating body and reimagine the possibilities of form through unexpected combinations. They accentuate shared traits through a simplified vocabulary of circles, squares, triangles, and other elemental shapes. Resonator Wind is a gleaming brass sphere with found mouthpieces from various wind instruments—panpipe, flute, tuba, and saxophone—emanating from its reflective surface. A triangular steel agogo serves as the base for Resonator Percussion; it is topped by a cube of geometric, leather-covered drums and a skirt of bells. A string quartet—bass guitar, acoustic guitar, cello, and zither—compose Resonator Strings. By gathering instruments from around the globe and assembling each type with other members of its dispersed musical family, these smaller Resonator works highlight a common history of sound-making objects across time and space.

The sculptures explore both the apparent contradictions and the fluidity between marking a place and being on the move. The physical phenomenon of sound does not adhere to borders; it travels, bounces, and echoes through space and material. Music is among the most mobile forms of culture, as melodies and songs are carried across borders with bodies and through broadcast or recordings. Aladağ thus literalizes the mingling of music practices and traditions through her creation of structures that bring together instruments from various backgrounds. The idea of belonging takes root not only through the recuperation of disparate parts into unified material objects but also through filling, even exceeding, a space with sound.

(Excerpt from essay by Rachel Jans, assistant curator @ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)