Globe-trotting artist Daric Gill captures travels in 'Memory Machine' exhibit

Most people come back from their trips abroad with photos and souvenirs. Daric Gill brings back the sounds of his travels.

"I had started to do a lot of traveling in really amazing places and wanted to bring that experience back to people," the Columbus artist said. "Any time I was in an experience I felt was a special pace or historical landmark or beautiful landmark, I’d take out my (Zoom H1n recorder) and record it."

To share the soundtracks of his journeys to places like Switzerland, Germany and France, Gill built "The Memory Machine: Sound," a motion-activated sound sculpture with microcontrollers, an amplifier and speakers. The machine is on exhibit through November at COSI.

Gill's varied background lends itself well to building electronic art. The 40-year-old artist, who holds a master's degree in sculpture and painting, also has worked as a woodshop supervisor.

"Electronics were something I toyed around with from a young age," he said.

He also wrote the programming codes for the machine.

From claps of thunder in the Swiss Alps to the bustling crowds around the Eiffel Tower, "Memory Machine" is meant to be "mimicking parts of the human experience," said Gill, a former instructor at Columbus College of Art and Design.

'Flower Power':Flora meets fashion in 'Flower Power' vintage dress exhibit

Gill was motivated to build "Memory Machine" because merely describing the sounds he's experienced neither does them justice nor effectively conveys those sounds to others. "Trying to explain to someone what it sounds like to be inside a clock in Germany ... instead of explaining it, it's much easier to try to create something where they could hear it," he said.

As an example, Gill referred to a street scene during his visit last year to Dresden, where a gallery hop-like evening featured a quartet playing in a gallery and people flooding the streets. "It was such a special moment that it would be very difficult to explain that situation and get people to be enticed by it," he said.

"Memory Machine" also gives Gill the opportunity to reach a group of people he feels aren't regularly able to enjoy art exhibits: the visually impaired. "This gives them more accessibility," he said.

In addition to sites in Europe, Gill's extensive "wandering" has led him to several places in the United States, including Ohio, as well as to Canada, where he recorded the cascading waters of Niagara Falls.

Gill has exhibited other works locally including "The Imagination Machine" at the Columbus Museum of Art in 2019. Made from a reclaimed airplane wing hanging from the ceiling, the piece featured lights triggered by motion sensors as visitors passed by, or when the International Space Station was positioned over the museum.

Window explorers:Artists spark climate conversations with window art

Like that previous work, "Memory Machine" — funded in part by a grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council — is made exclusively of reclaimed materials. "I worked really hard to make things look museum-grade," Gill said. "You can make artwork that is beautiful and encouraging and made with sustainable materials. This was an opportunity for me to challenge myself."

Gill hopes "Memory Machine" urges people to open their ears — and their minds.

"I hope it encourages people to appreciate the sounds around them, to listen a little more, to become curious about going other places and engaging with other cultures," he said.

At a glance

"The Memory Machine: Sound" will be on display through November at COSI, 333 W. Broad St. The center is open this week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Saturday, then on a varying schedule until May 3, when it opens daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $25 for 13 and older; $20 for ages 2-12; $23 for seniors 60 and older, and military 13 and older; $18 for military youth 2-12. Teachers and children younger than 2 admitted free. ID required for seniors, military and teachers. (cosi.org)

bpaschal@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Artist Daric Gill's Memory Machine on display at COSI through November