Ryder Morey-Weale

Installation view, Singing at a loud party, Bungalow, Berlin

Photo : Andrea Rossetti

Installation view, Singing at a loud party, Bungalow, Berlin

Photo : Andrea Rossetti

Installation view, Singing at a loud party, Bungalow, Berlin

Photo : Andrea Rossetti

Ryder Morey-Weale presents Singing at a loud party, a sculptural and sound installation whose starting point began during his participation in a research program in Shanghai, China, that was abruptly interrupted by the Covid-19 crisis. Shortly before abandoning the city, Morey-Weale started to film and record the sound of caged birds in the city’s streets, whose singing has become influenced by the surrounding sounds of the megalopolis. Instead of singing to fellow birds, the birds had begun to respond to human generated sounds, such as motors passing by, electrical alarms and mobile phones.

The exhibition at Bungalow further expands upon this situation through an eco-fiction where the birds are present in Berlin, in a basement facing Ritterstrasse. Sounds of passersby, car traffic and construction across the street infiltrate the basement, mingling with the bird songs. Several sculptures are disposed throughout the space and connected together by speaker cables, as if they are in a state of charging. Made with hardened textile and based on fabric designs used to shield the bird cages in outdoor settings, an orchestra of bird songs can be heard, into which alarm sounds become gradually integrated.

Seemingly in a state of rest, yet defying the calmness that is meant to be imposed by the obscuring covers, the birdsongs progressively seep out into the space. By depicting their morphing calls, the installation implies a reactive and tenacious urban fauna taking forms of resistance, as well as volatile ecologies which bring into question our anthroprocentric belief in a static natural environment. For the duration of this exhibition, the space becomes a temporary zone of collective rehearsal and auto-transformation.

Text by Joan Lee / ChertLüdde Gallery for the exhibition 'Singing at a loud party', Bungalow, Berlin.

Series of works realised during the residency 'Ce Cher mois de Septembre' at Maison Salvan, Labège, France, 8th of September - 8th of October 2020.

Pierre, Bernard et Jean, 2020
Reinforced plaster, epoxy resin, metal, cement, local construction debris, dried plant stems and seeds (Ailanthus altissima, Robinia pseudoacacia)
145 x 80 x 55 cm

Pierre, Bernard et Augustine, 2020
Reinforced plaster, epoxy resin, metal, cement, local construction debris, dried plant stems and seeds (Ailanthus altissima, Buddleia davidii)
105 x 80 x 45 cm

Series of works realised during the residency 'Ce Cher mois de Septembre' at Maison Salvan, Labège, France, 8th of September - 8th of October 2020.

singing at a loud party, 2020-ongoing

double HD video, on loop, video screen, stand, stained curtains
installation view for the exhibiton ‘Hypertime’, 11-12th Jan 2020, Civil defense bunker, 700 Xianxia Road, Shanghai, China

please wait for me, 2019
taxidermied pigeons, ink, dimensions variable

installation view from 'Relocation - a temporary studio', group show, Shanghai Marie's Painting Factory, 3300 West Yan'An Road, Shanghai, China, 30th Nov. 2019

please wait for me, 2019
taxidermied pigeons, ink, dimensions variable

installation view from 'Relocation - a temporary studio', group show, Shanghai Marie's Painting Factory, 3300 West Yan'An Road, Shanghai, China, 30th Nov. 2019

untitled, 2019
epoxy resin, ink, dimensions variable

installation view from 'Relocation - a temporary studio', group show, Shanghai Marie's Painting Factory, 3300 West Yan'An Road, Shanghai, China, 30th Nov. 2019

untitled, 2019
epoxy resin, ink, dimensions variable

installation view from 'Relocation - a temporary studio', group show, Shanghai Marie's Painting Factory, 3300 West Yan'An Road, Shanghai, China, 30th Nov. 2019

untitled, 2019
epoxy resin, ink, dimensions variable

installation view from 'Relocation - a temporary studio', group show, Shanghai Marie's Painting Factory, 3300 West Yan'An Road, Shanghai, China, 30th Nov. 2019

Barbed wire, 2019
Robinia pseudoacacia branches, inox cable, dimensions variable

installation view from 'LFJDEULFIHXZUKFTIKGGRREHMD, Exposition des diplomé.e.s', curated by Liza Maignan, at Institut Supérieur des Arts de Toulouse, France

Barbed wire, 2019
Robinia pseudoacacia branches, inox cable, dimensions variable

installation view from 'LFJDEULFIHXZUKFTIKGGRREHMD, Exposition des diplomé.e.s', curated by Liza Maignan, at Institut Supérieur des Arts de Toulouse, France

edge effect, 2019
series of cement sculptures, audio files, speakers, series of posters, dimensions variable