Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing | Art & Artists

Elevator/Stairwell

Holland Andrews has composed two sound works for the Biennial—one for the stairwell and the other for the large elevator nearby.

Andrews created Air I Breathe: Radio, located in the stairwell, entirely from vocal sounds that at times have an ambient effect and at other times offer a range of harmony, dissonance, and melody. The artist manipulated the sounds using a pedal-operated effects processor so that their body would be involved in the process of creation. The work meditates on the sensation of receiving information on multiple channels, as if the mind were switching stations on a radio. Andrews has described the feeling expressed as being dynamic—dissonant and blissful at the same time.

Hyperacusis Version 1: Sleeping Bag, located in the elevator, works with voice and mechanical sounds, including those made by the elevator itself, to create a restorative space. Here, Andrews plays with our perceptions of the machine hum, so that we might wonder if the sound is intentional or just the magic of the world, ultimately to discover that it is, in fact, both.

Throughout the run of the Biennial, Andrews will give live performances that draw on both of these works.