Michelle Rosenberg

"Friend Headphone", 2002	"Acoustic Headphone", 2004	"Telephone Noise Makers", 2004 installation view at Sculpture Space, Utica, NY	"Two Trees", 2004 La Superette installation with Tom Mulligan at The Tank Annex

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Artist Statement

I’ve been working on a series of objects that explore different ways of listening. In an on-going project called "Dynamic Headphones", I make headphones that mediate a listener’s relationship to recorded and live sounds. I modify the wiring of portable headphones as well as make “ear trumpets” for listening to live sound through.

Some of the modified headphones allow listeners to share sounds with other people, others allow listeners to hoard several sounds for themselves. The largest of these is called “Community Headphone” and was installed at Exit Art in New York in 2003. “Community Headphone” is an interactive web of wires with headphones joining the wires together at regular intervals. Several people can wear the different headphones at once and listen to a composition of sounds that change slightly depending on one’s location in the web.

My inspiration for acoustic headphones comes from looking at antique hearing aids and ear trumpets that were used to deliver sound waves to the ear without electricity. The “acoustic headphones” I have made filter live sound in different ways. Some headphones amplify specific sounds by using tubes that connect the ear directly to a live sound source. Others distort live sound by having sound waves travel through different shapes and materials before arriving at the listener’s ear. These headphones make the surrounding ambient noise sound like a variation on listening to a seashell.

Michelle Rosenberg

Born in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Education

Selected Exhibitions

2004	Marygrove College Gallery, Detroit, Michigan Critical Mass 2: Collaborations, organized by Flak and Nelson Smith, September 7 – October 3 Western Exhibitions, Chicago, Illinois This Thing We Do, curated by Scott Speh, June 19 – July 24
2003	La Superette, organized by Tali Hinkis and myself, December 20, Participant Inc, NY, New York La Superette, organized by Tali Hinkis and myself, December 14, Deitch Projects, New York, New York University Settlement Arts, Beacon, New York Campsite, site specific outdoor sculpture installation, curated by Kerry Mills, August 2- September 30, Exit Art, New York, New York Exit Biennial: The Reconstruction, curated by Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, March 8-June 6
2002	Cuchifritos Gallery, New York, New York La Superette, curated by Tali Hinkis, December 7- January 31 Acme Art Works, Chicago, Illinois Where They Were, curated by Melinda Fries, October 16- November 15
2000	Portland Building Lobby Public Art Space, Portland, Oregon Oscillating Projector, Solo installation sponsored by the Regional Arts and Culture Council, February 28- March 24 Martial Art Gallery, Portland, Oregon Archeological Dig, gallery-wide installation with Jason Wilson, February 5- March 4
1999	American Institute of Architects Gallery, Portland, OR Art by Architects, curated by Patty West, October 7- November 8 Studio 1627, Portland, Oregon Photoblaster, curated by Connie Jones Ostrowski, March 12-22

Awards/Residencies
2004 Sculpture Space, funded residency, Utica, New York, June 1- July 31
2000 Regional Arts and Culture Council, honorarium, Portland, Oregon

Bibliography
Gary Shapiro “Electronic Response” The New York Sun, January 7, 2005
Wayne Myers “Utica Stands Tall in the World of Sculpture” The Oneida Daily Dispatch, June 19, 2004
Wendy Miller, ed., Here and Gone; Compilation of Temporary Projects Commissioned by the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Portland, Oregon, 2001
Camilla Raymond, “Symbols and Meaning Kick-start Martial Arts Studio” The Oregonian, February 18, 2000

Contact Information
Michelle Rosenberg
mr@michellerosenberg.com
www.michellerosenberg.com