Inspace is a public engagement lab on the ground floor of the Informatics Forum of Edinburgh University, which aims to explore the cultural significance of informatics, whether it be through the arts, science, medicine or humanities. You would be forgiven for not recognising this tucked away building, but the exhibits and shows that are put on there should definitely not be missed.  This can most certainly be said for the most recent performance Dressed in White Noise, hosted by the newly launched LINE Magazine, which aimed to unmask the face of sound and to question the blurring of the boundary between performance and reality.  Created in Spring 2010, LINE is a Scottish art publication that provides a platform for both emerging and established artists and writers across Scotland and internationally. It’s latest edition focuses on the use of sound as an artform, and the exhibition is a celebration of the publications recent success, inspired by artists such as Turner prize winner Susan Philipsz, Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry.

Conventional ideas of ‘distance’ between work and audience are most certainly challenged in this performance, both physically and emotionally, through the placement of performers discreetly within the audience. The viewer is taken on an all-encompassing sound experience, with each stage of the piece adding to our otherworldly, trancelike but transient state. However, with the presence of human figures throughout the piece, the audience is brought firmly back to reality, and although the experience was ephemeral, the impact of sound in art is certainly not lost.

★★★★

Venue: Inspace, Edinburgh

Originally published in Re(view), 31/01/11