Click Play Button for Audio Tour by Yin Peet
SOUNDMAN
Artist: Viktor Lois
Size: 36 feet tall, 80 feet wide, 8 &1/2 feet deep
Weight: 20 tons
Material: steel and electronic devices
Year completed: 2010
The Soundman embodies Viktor Lois’s lifelong vision of transforming industrial materials into art. The main structure is built from two 53-foot trailer frames. Inspired by the Greek tympanums that traditionally marked the entrances of great European churches and public buildings, Viktor created his own contemporary tympanum—one that proclaims the YV Art Museum as a place dedicated to creativity, imagination, and art.
Read more…
Its bright yellow form stands in bold contrast to the museum’s red building, creating a vibrant visual dialogue.
What makes The Soundman truly unique is that wind is its critical collaborator. Hidden inside the Head are seven switches connected to seven CD players. As the wind rotates the head, at any given turn, it will randomly activate one switch, when wind keeps the head turning, the continuous sound forms a musical composition conducted and directed by wind. No two musical compositions are ever exactly the same.
Look closely you’ll discover playful details throughout the sculpture: oversized speaker-shaped hands and six illuminated portraits of Viktor that Yin sculpted. Together they give the structure a lively theatrical presence. Standing at the museum entrance, The Soundman is more than a sculpture. It is a collaboration between artist, machine, and nature—a work that reminds us creativity can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, and that even the invisible force of the wind can become an artist’s partner.