A Death Metal Band Will Play Inside a Soundproof Box in London as Part of the Sculpture in The City Public Art Program

If a band is playing in a soundproof box, does it matter what kind of music they play? Some say yes.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Portuguese artist Joao Onofre's public installation for the Sculpture in the City project in London this year will feature a Death Metal Band, but that shouldn't deter non-metal fans from seeing it because the band won't be heard.

Almost every day this month, the band Unfathomable Ruination will enter the soundproof, airtight box sculpture and play until they run out of air. According to ArtWeekly, the piece (titled Box Sized DIE) was created in 2007 and has toured Europe, featuring Death Metal bands local to the venues. While viewers won't hear the band, they will "observe its strange vibrations, only viewing the band’s entrance and exit to the performance space.

ArtFCity calls the project one of London's "worst public art projects" and asks why the type of band matters. ANIMAL argues against that point, stating that "there are many things we can’t see or hear directly from a sculpture. Onofre is charging the invisible core of the object with the specific force and drive of death metal. It’s black. It’s claustrophobic. It’s all angst. Of course it had to be black metal! Unlike most conceptual public sculptures, we know exactly what’s 'inside.'"

 Similarly, Ai Weiwei recently presented a piece for the Brodno Sculpture Park project that can not be seen by viewers because it exists underground, yet we know exactly what was buried.

For more info about Onofre's installation, check out the Sculpture in the City website.

RELATED: Ai Weiwei Creates an Invisible Work for Poland Titled "To Be Found" 

[via ANIMAL]

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