The Master's Voice (2001 - )

A low wall snakes along the edge of a small park at the eastern end of City Walk, and into this wall the artists have inserted a rhythmic series of stainless steel grids from which sounds emanate, creating an unanticipated 'sonic event space' along the urban park walkway. Each new visit reveals different aspects of the changing soundscape.

'The Master's Voice' is a playful and engaging artwork created from the personalised, intimate vocalisations of people talking to their animals. People walking past the wall trigger these unexpected calls and commands - but with the sounds of the animals edited out, the voices seem to be calling out directly to the passersby: beckoning, controlling, coaxing. The addressee has been changed and visitors find themselves implicated in the work.

There are many curious and wonderfully inventive ways that people have developed to communicate with animals, especially with working animals and pets. 'The Master's Voice' includes many field recordings made by the artists at a variety of locations including farms, parks, training schools, zoos, veterinary practices and animal shows.

Leber and Chesworth are interested in the juxtaposition of these personalised, intimate vocalisations in an urban, public space surrounded by commercial and government buildings. In this place - called 'Civic' no less - the work is not so much about the nature of the park but about the relationship of 'citizens' to their 'civic spaces'.

Visual Elements

The top of the stainless steel inserts sets up a horizontal datum, which loosely corresponds to the level of the upper walkway. The folded junction in the inserts between the wall and ground articulates the changes in level.

Technical Details

The system uses two Digital Soundstores to deliver sound to eight individual weather-resistant loudspeakers housed within the wall behind stainless steel panels. Two motion sensors allow the work to be triggered by the movement of people approaching the wall.

The soundscape operates daily during daylight hours. It is only heard when sensors are triggered by visitors walking past the wall; otherwise the system is silent, awaiting new passersby.

NAWIC 2002 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Design

"The work ... trips up passers-by, induces double-takes, private puzzled glances ... It addresses us directly... these calls are full of questions, invitations to conversation, spaces for exchange; there's this urge for an interchange...

"The 'sensible' inflections of speech get stretched into wild glisses and warbling melisma; syllables shorten into abstract sonic punctuation ... these candid, charged interspecies moments emerge from inconspicuous slots in a mallscape; their sonic shapes stand out against the 'public' murmur of social verbosity."
Mitchell Whitelaw, RealTime No.46, Sydney, December 2001

hey
stop it
tell me, tell me
who's that?
can you sit down?
listen to me
don't be so slack
stay...steady
can you talk?
sit
good boy walk on
what's this?
just walking
what are you doing?
don't be frightened
whoa whoa
steady
stand still
what's the matter with you today?

Artists

• Chesworth & Leber
• Chesworth, David (1958 - )
• Leber, Sonia (1959 - )

Site

• Australian Capital Territory, ACT

Works by Same Artist

• 5000 Calls - Cardiff, Five Thousand Calls - Cardiff (2002)
• 5000 Calls - Ljubljana, Five Thousand Calls - Ljubljana (2003)
• 5000 Calls - Prime Installation, Five Thousand Calls - Prime Installation (2000 - )
• The Persuaders (2003)
• Proximities: Local histories / Global entanglements (2006 - )

Newspaper Articles

• Whitelaw, Mitchell, 'Sit, Ubu, Sit. Good Dog', Real Time, no. 46, December, 2001. [ Details... ]

Radio Interviews

• James, Bruce, The Master’s Voice, Interview on Arts Today, ABC Radio National, 1 November, 2001. [ Details... ]