Hospital by Wolfram Spyra

WOLFRAM DER SPYRA: SOUND INSTALLATION at the HOSPITAL CHAPEL in TREYSA

This is a room-filling, site specific sound installation with a compositional structure and external design which work together to suggest the original historical function of the building. The music is divided into three thematic sections, which refer to the borderline psychological experiences associated with the chapel’s past.

The music is played from a pre-recorded CD and is heard through loudspeakers placed in the corners of the room. The presence of several hospital beds underlines the compositional aspiration of the piece. Their apparently superficial symbolism is conscious and is substantially deepened by the musical experience. It is the intention of the artist that the visual elements of the installation combine with the acoustic accompaniment to lead the visitor to new forms of perception and the redefinition of the merely superficially known environment. The visitor thus has the chance to consciously become one with the historical implications of the space.

The visitor is expected to overcome the common topophobia of sacred and ecclesiastical places. In this respect, music and spatial design are a medium for the historical transformation of the space and an allegory for the original function of the hospital. It is hoped that, for the audience, the sensory perception of the healing spirituality and the historical authority of the place will combine and prevail.