Olivia Louvel: The Sculptor Speaks

27 May-25 Jun 2023

Overview

Alongside our exhibition, Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life, you can view The Sculptor Speaks – a looped audio-visual work by artist and composer Olivia Louvel, based on an archival tape holding a 1961 talk by Barbara Hepworth, pre-recorded herself for use by the British Council. 

After finding the recording in the British Library, Louvel designed a new soundscape for it, while manipulating Hepworth’s voice, repeating phrases and playing with its rhythm.   

Louvel thinks of the sound work as a direct carving into the original material to produce an abstract form.

The sound is accompanied by contemporary footage of St Ives, referencing Hepworth’s relationship to the Cornish landscape.  

About the artist

Olivia Louvel is a French-born British composer and artist whose work draws on voice, computer music and digital narrative. Her work is presented in the form of sound recordings, live performance, sound art installations and video art.

Artists