• Susan Philipsz
  The Lost Reflection, 2007
  Courtesy of the artist and Isabella Bortolozzi Galerie, Berlin
  Photograph: Eoghan McTigue
  

Interested in the emotive and psychological properties of song and how it can be used as a device to alter individual consciousness, Susan Philipsz’s work deals with the spatial properties of sound. Using her own voice, singing without instrumental accompaniment, Philipsz engages her listeners, temporarily altering their perceptions of themselves so that they become aware of the environment they are in. Creating her own versions of popular music, political songs and film experiences, the artist draws on personal and collective memories to collapse private and public distinctions. The Internationale (1999) is Philipsz’s version of the historical call to action of revolutionary groups worldwide. Originally composed to celebrate the workers involved in the short-lived Paris Commune of 1871, the song came to represent communism. In this work the anthem is transformed from rallying cry to a soft, solitary, a cappella voice, broadcast from one solitary speaker and the voice haunts the Turbine Hall on Cockatoo Island.

Online Venue Artist

Susan Philipsz
The Internationale, 1999
Online Venue Artwork
Courtesy the artist and Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery, Berlin

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