The multi-channel sound installation created by Ed Herrmann based on text selected by Keith Bringe from “A Lover’s Discourse” is a collaborative project including the voices of nine individuals.  The recorded piece was created in conjunction with the exhibition “An Illustrated Lover’s Discourse” based on Roland Barthes’s linguistic masterpiece, “Fragments d’un discours amoureux”. 

Barthes’s “Fragments d’un discours amoureux” was published in Paris in 1977 and was translated in an English edition in 1978.  The book comprises 80 chapters or fragments which explore concepts in the language of love.  In this important linguistic analysis, Barthes draws upon references from the worlds of literature, music, painting and philosophy.  Chicago-based artist Keith Bringe interpreted “A Lover’s Discourse” through 80 constructions – one for each chapter.  Each fragment is contained within a vintage wine crate as setting for assemblage of drawings, paintings, found objects and photographs. Labeled with chapter headings in French and English, the boxes form a visual lexicon.  Bringe presents his installation as a never-ending work in progress.

Ed Herrmann is a musician and composer with a background in radio and sound design. His performances feature analog modular electronics, percussion, and invented instruments. He has composed music for dance, theater, and broadcast; created audio tours for museums and historical sites throughout the country; and produced radio programs and podcasts on music and other subjects. 

Ed’s program for The Lover’s Discourse is preceded by “We,” commissioned by the Poetry Foundation in 2017 to mark the centennial of the birth of Gwendolyn Brooks.  Using crowd sourced readings of Brooks’s iconic poem, “We Real Cool,” Ed assembled multiple interpretations of each stanza of the poem, creating an ever-changing rhythmic tapestry that played continuously over a four-channel sound system. 

Participating Voices

Keith Bringe: artist and founder/director of Rare Nest Gallery in Chicago

David Cloud: inventor and composer

Kristine Cloud: multi-media and assemblage artist

Chloe Forte: Northwestern University student and sound/media artist

Carol Goodnick:  radio host and retired nurse in Columbia, Missouri

Peter Handler: playwright and consultant to non-profits and foundations

Ed Herrmann: composer and audio producer, board of Directors Experimental Sound Studio

Dr. David Sokol: historian/curator and Professor Emeritus - Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago

Tiphanie Spencer: artist and founder and director of White Color Productions