Oscillithic
Oscillithic
is the beginning of a cross-disciplinary collaboration between multi-disciplinary artists Rachel Doolin & Anne Marie Deacy subsequent to a research partnership with Solstice Arts Centre and the Artists Laboratory Program at Devenish Lands at Dowth, Co. Meath, Ireland.
Devenish Lands at Dowth was an Internationally recognised research farm situated within the Brú na Bóinne, a UNESCO world heritage site. In 2018 excavation work at Dowth Hall unearthed the remains of a neolithic passage tomb. This discovery is considered to be one of the most significant finds in Ireland’s archaeological heritage. The Sí in modern Irish language refers to both the megalithic mounds and the spirits believed to be connected to ancient burial sites. White quartz stones, known as Clocha Geala or ‘Shining Stones’ have featured prominently at many of these ancient sites where megalithic structures built with great care and precision, are thought to have been used in religious ceremonies and astronomical observations, with quartz being a prominent feature in their construction. This alludes to the hypothesis that quartz and its association with cosmic revelation played a significant role in the ritualistic practices and worldview of our ancestors.
Doolin and Deacy’s research draws on the notion of quartz as both a technological artifact and a potent elemental archetype that offers a tangible connection to our ancestral heritage. By employing quartz as a beacon or resonating navigator, the artists attempt to ‘tune in’, to divine a gateway into new findings. Their research journey is imbued with a poetic provocation that lends itself to a mindful exploration of past rituals. Contemplating the deep connection between humanity, the natural world and the divine, while interrogating the intersection where science meets myth and art in a contemporary context.
Oscillithic is a neologism coined by the artists employed to excavate (through conventional and alternate means) the vibrational energies of lithic remnants, to attempt to mine meaning & insight from the hidden vernacular of the site.
Image: Site Sound Stone:Birch ply, Ash wood, found quarried Quartz, archival prints on Hahnemühle fine art hemp paper, Electronics: Transducers, 4 channel composition of on site field recordings, quartz bowls and recordings made of artists sounding quartz on site.
Having spent time on the lands at Dowth, Doolin and Deacy’s research is concerned with this materiality of place, informed by the knowledge and ongoing expertise of onsite project archaeologist Clíodhna Ní Lionáin and an ongoing dialogue with archaeoastronomer Dr. Frank Prendergast.
Beneath Dowth Hall, white quartz pebbles sit embedded in the dirt, these hidden oscillators only recently unearthed after thousands of years, are a web of vibrating matter, glistening beacons to the past and the intentions of a people unknown. Guided in this space by these luminous objects, sounds were meticulously recorded while onsite through a multiple of microphones, acoustic devices, techniques and field recorders. Exploring both over and underground they recorded through stones and structures, along with documenting the frequencies propagating the air. Through this immersive experience, the non-human world was magnified, evoking another time, as the land revealed itself as a natural amphitheatre.
Site
Stone
Sound
This research work is presented as a Sound Sculpture and as Art Document. The 2 metre long sounding research table a nod to the passage, a homage to the burial site unearthed at Dowth Hall, where the hidden vernacular of Quartz is being explored through its sonic materiality.
Antler Antenna Attunement
Image Credit: Above by Rachel Doolin, To The Right: Lee Welch
Image Credit: lee Welch
Oscillithic II - Antler|Antenna|Atunement
A wild red deer antler, found on site is reprocessed as an antenna.
The small field recorder used to map the space is playing back sketches from Dowth to the most simple form of shortwave transmission, on a small breadboard set embedded like the quartz on-site in Dowth is a small crystal oscillator, when powered pulsing at approx 1.54 million times a second to a transformer the signal is then sent to the antler antenna, off to propagate the air. This signal is then picked up through the antenna of a small handheld am radio, and broadcast. This work in progress acknowledges the continued power of quartz in technology and in this case in telecommunications.
Materials: Field recorder, shortwave transmitter, handheld radio receiver, battery pack, found antler, birch ply shelf.
Photo credit: Exhibited at Solsctice - Lee Welch
This work would not have happened were it not for the the culturing aspects of being onsite in The National Sculpture Factory
and a shared research around quartz found with Rachel Doolin along with the vision of
Curator Belinda Quirk
This research work was exhibited as part of Holdings and both Anne Marie & Rachel hope to continue this collaboration in 2023.