THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG: The first iteration of an ongoing project to gather and archive the sound of institutions around the world to find what might be universal to them through a study of ambience. The project collects the specificity of place and culture belonging to each recording in an ensemble to form a whole intercontinental big picture as a homogeneity. In this first iteration, the place hasn’t been specified, removing the designation from a singular recording allows it to act as a proxy and precariously become a universal representation of institutional ambience.

Transposed audibly from one space to another, sound becomes a means of mixing signifiers relative to a given place and situation. If being somewhere has its own sound, then the ‘being there’ within a sound creates a means to transpose the listener from one place to another. The idea of transporting the listener in a conceptual manner is manifested through any kind of connection via an indexical link.

Joe and Chanelle focus their interest in labour types by bringing together the large scale of institutional architecture and the personal labour of the invigilator. Together with the minimal presentation of sound, they present their work on vinyl accompanied by a merchandising aesthetic of t-shirts and posters.

To view a catalogue of works for either show or to request further information please email info@comagallery.com