Tim Meacham

A few dollars more 2018 

Record player, light & magnifying glass

Projected as silhouette, the piece follows the movement of a record player tone arm on its journey across the landscape of a vinyl disc. A focused beam of light directed at the meeting of the needle and surface of the record, reveals the rotating surface not to be flat, but an undulating ever-changing landscape, traversed by the magnified needle. The record player is placed on the floor of a room and the surface of the record aligned with the skirting board, echoing its circular journey round the room. The skirting board as seam between the vertical plane of the wall and horizontal floor (needle & record) The LED light reveals the miniature world of marks and scratches telling the history of the space. The viewer is placed at floor/skirting board level 

The role of the needle is considered in first embedding sound, through creating the grooves of the record, and then as a “rider “travelling across the surface landscape of the disc to release the sound trapped within. 

Viewed at eye level, the landscape of the record reveals a world within a world (like a model railway) its topography mediated through touch in order to release sound. The human, gentle physical ritual of lifting the arm to place the needle on and off the record at the beginning and end of the music, is mirrored in the movement of the tone arm itself 

This work is one of a series of works using analogue records and players.