Dear all,

Today I would like to talk about another submission to the #WhatIfDrone remix contest that inspired me very much for my own artwork: ‘Fan Death’ by Gloria Guns.

When I listened to Gloria’s drone piece, I got the idea to use her sound material for a version of my audiovisual installation “Read me” and personalize it for her:

The concept of the “Read me” installation is about the process of getting to know a person. This is why I asked Gloria to send me two texts for the installation that are close to her heart or her professional identity.

She sent me subsection 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which reads:

“Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”

Her second text referred to a pop song that to her expressed “a certain sense of isolation and alienation, as well as some dissatisfaction with one’s place and situation, stemmed by a longing for more beautiful deeper meaning that I knew existed somewhere.”

For my composition Gloria let me use her original drone sounds.

When listening to them, I found that the Korean lullaby she sang perfectly represented the multicultural foundation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The fan sounds used in her drone conveyed to me the vision of a city street in much the same manner as it is depicted in the pop song: abandoned, the pavement cracked, lonely. Finally, to represent the feeling of alienation and isolation and the longing for beauty Gloria speaks about, I used haunting sound samples from a baroque aria.

Thank you, Gloria for the inspiration!

By the way, Gloria is no stranger at what-ifblog. She has already contributed two guest posts: Guest Blog – Gloria Guns , in which she gave us an interview on and what shapes her identity, as well as her Response to “What Gets Your Creativity Going?” in which she posted a series of photographs from the Canadian arctic community she lived in, Cambridge Bay (Nunavut). Here she shows us what inspires the music she writes for her band, Scary Bear Soundtrack.

Photo of abandoned street by Keith Ruffles (under a creative commons license, attribution 3.0)
Featured image: Still of “Read me” © Barbara Lüneburg