Sound work

Part of the Primates project.

CD primates is a unique vocal exposure of so-called ”civilized” humans. 45 minutes of a quarrel between a man and a woman, a married couple. Family, work, sex and love – it is, at times, ugly, horrifying, and even funny. How far have humans really evolved?

The CD was made in a Swedish and in an English version.

THEY SHOUT   THEY FIGHT   THEY LOVE

Listen to Cd Primates. The ugly, sad, funny, true quarrel between a man and and a woman.

Concept, direction and collation: Gunilla Leander
Actors the English version: Vic Bryson, Graham Christopher
Actors the Swedish version: Bente Danielsson, Mats Rudal 
Photo: Alexander Crispin
Art Director: Malin Ringblom
Sound Technician: My Häggblom (the English version)
Sound Editing: Petter Feltenstedt, Gunilla Leander

See a video presentation from the exhibition GAPE – Gaffel Art Park Event 2010 by Gustaf Lord.

Why a Primate CD?

– I am interested in what takes place under the surface of we humans. The inspiration for this project came from a discussion with a friend, about whether or not humans are innately evil. I said that this is not the case. That humans are driven by a need of self-preservation and self-realisation, and that this is a force which is related to instinct. When our identities are threatened, we fight. My friend maintained the opposite; ”Look at all the evil things humans are capable of doing”. The discussion resulted in my exhibit Primates Society at the Kalmar Museum of Art in 1997, of which the Swedish version of this argument was a part.

– I have chosen the quarrel as focal-point, because it contains several basic components. Threats and constructs are used as weapons; war from a daily perspective. The quarrel in itself is uninteresting, but within it our human needs are clarified; the needs to be seen, fulfilled and to have a value. It is about survival. When the quarrel is related to our evolutionary instincts – survival and reproduction – it takes on a new perspective.

In the CD sleeve there are texts about the evolution of the primates and a timeline of the Earth’s development.

”Lying under the cerebral hemispheres, at the top of the brain stem, are the reptile brain and the brain of the old mammal, which contain the basic survival programs related to flight from danger, hunger, thirst, procreation and parental care. These parts of the human brain evolved between 100 million and 300 million years ago…….

……  Experiments have shown that much of the human repertoire of behavior originates in deeply buried regions of the brain that once directed the business of life for our ancestors”.
From the book: ”The Enchanted Loom, Mind in the Universe”
by ROBERT JASTROW

Presentations:
– GAPE – Gaffel Art Park Event, Gävle, Sweden 2010
– FriktionerFriction, International Performance festival, Uppsala, Sweden 2006
– GAS, Göteborg Art Sounds Festival 2001, Gothenburg
– Primates project – English version. Release in London 2001
– Konstautomaten, Stockholm Cultural Capital of Europe 1998
– Kalmar Museum of Art, ´Primates Society´ 1997

Subsidized by: The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
Sponsor for the Cd production: DCM, Digital Communication Media, Sweden

© Gunilla Leander

Listen to sound sample from the Swedish Cd Primates

 

Listen to sound sample from the English Cd Primates, Track 6

 

Listen to sound sample from the English Cd Primates, Track 10