“Clinamen is the unpredictable swerve of atoms in the atomistic doctrine of Epicurus. This swerving, according to Lucretius, provides the “free will which living things throughout the world have”.[1] Lucretius never gives the primary cause of the deflections.” (Wikipedia)
clinamen is a series of installations by French sound artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. The latest and largest version of the piece is currently on display at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan for a few more days (it closes on the 9th).
I had the pleasure of spending time in clinamen on a recent visit to the city. Situated in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall1, it consists of three large flat circular pools of water in which hundreds of ceramic bowls of various sizes, selected for their clear and pleasing timbre, float freely. Jets mounted at a single point on the perimeter of each pool circulate the water. The bowls collide.
From this eminently simple setup emerges a variety of sensory delights. You can experience it solely as a sound bath, an auditory immersion in a toy universe of gentle tones. You can appreciate the surreal tableaux of bowls which appear, due to the soft overhead light and clear water, to be hovering in midair. You can pick one bowl and follow it through its entire labyrinthine circulation of its pond. You can try to predict which bowls will collide when, and what sounds they will make.
You can even, as I did, take a time-lapse video of the pools and be delighted to discover that the movements of the bowls are mirrored by those of your fellow visitors in the background.
I spent an hour and a half in clinamen and I could have spent longer. While this particular version of it is ending soon, it’s possible that another may come along someday. Keep an eye out!
- One of the largest indoor spaces in the city at 1.2 acres, with an 80 foot ceiling. ↩︎