Oliv­er Beer

Biography

Oliv­er Beer works at the inter­sec­tion of archi­tec­ture, sound and image, explor­ing the con­nec­tions between space, objects and acoustics. Informed by his train­ing in fine art, musi­cal com­po­si­tion and film the­o­ry, his projects – often tak­ing the form of large-scale instal­la­tions, live per­for­mances, sculp­ture and video – are research based and use orig­i­nal tech­niques to test and manip­u­late the expe­ri­ence of sound. Inter­est­ed in the res­o­nant fre­quen­cies of objects and archi­tec­ture he devis­es work that stim­u­lates the unique voice of emp­ty space. His ongo­ing Res­o­nance Project’ (2007-) has trans­formed the Cen­tre­Pom­pi­dou, MoMA PS1, and an Ottoman ham­mam, dur­ing Istan­bul Bien­nale (2015), into archi­tec­tur­al instru­ments’ pro­duc­ing audi­ble com­po­si­tions born from their inher­ent notes. Per­formed by trained singers, often along­side two dimen­sion­al sculp­tures’, instal­la­tions and films, which splice through recog­nis­able objects and nar­ra­tives, Beer encour­ages a re-assess­ment of sen­so­ry per­cep­tion. As he has said of his sculp­tures, These…are a way of hear­ing with our eyes – or see­ing with our ears.’

Exhibitions
Available Works

Oliv­er Beer

Recom­po­si­tion (Jen­ny), 2018
Vio­lin, sec­tioned and set in resin, gesso
67472 cm

Oliv­er Beer

Recom­po­si­tion (Clive), 2018
Vio­lin, sec­tioned and set in resin, gesso
67472 cm

Oliv­er Beer

Com­po­si­tion for Mouths (Songs My Moth­er Taught Me) I, 2018
sin­gle-chan­nel video, sound 4 min­utes 10 seconds
Com­mis­sioned by the Bien­nale of Sydney

Oliv­er Beer

Out of Shot, 2013
sin­gle-chan­nel Cin­e­mas­cope video, sound
12 min­utes 18 seconds

Oliv­er Beer

Mum’s Con­tin­u­ous Note, 2012
sin­gle-chan­nel video, sound
3 min­utes 10 seconds

Oliv­er Beer

The Res­o­nance Project: Deep and Meaningful, 2010
sin­gle-chan­nel video, sound
7 min­utes 15 seconds

News

In The Finan­cial Times, 24 March 2018: Syd­ney har­bours a trea­sury of art’

[Excerpt] The 21st Syd­ney Bien­nale […] brings togeth­er 70 artists from 35 coun­tries in […]

Read More

Art that’s on song

Oliv­er Beer non­cha­lant­ly leans into the cor­ner of the art gallery and sings. Adjusting […]

Read More