Rounds of applause: Paul Pfeiffer’s art brings home the visceral sounds of boxing
For his latest work, on show in Central, the internationally acclaimed American artist recreated the noises of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight then married them to footage of the bout
Pound a slab of raw pork with a fast-moving fist and you’ll hear a sound similar to that of a boxer hitting his opponent. It’s a primal and at times flinch-inducing noise, and one that dominates the multi-channel audio and video installation Three Figures in a Room by US visual artist Paul Pfeiffer, which is on display at Galerie Perrotin in Central until January .
For his first solo exhibition in the city, Pfeiffer has turned the spotlight on May’s over-hyped boxing match between American Floyd Mayweather and Filipino Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas. On exiting the gallery’s 17th-floor lift, the sounds of the fight hit you hard – but it’s not the original sounds you hear but the sounds of the fight pared down to their most visceral.
The cheers of the star-studded crowd (Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Robert De Niro, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Jordan, Clint Eastwood – to name a few – were there) and the hyperactive commentary we’ve come to associate with US sportscastershave been replaced with the magnified sounds of punches, footwork, grunting, breathing and verbal exchanges between the boxers.
However, these manufactured sounds have been added by Pfeiffer, mapped to the four corners of the gallery space – much like the four corners of a boxing ring – so we feel as if we are ringside. Images of the boxers are projected onto a screen, but Pfeiffer has also manipulated the visuals so, at times, when circling each other in the ring, their bodies dissolve into shimmering clouds of colour, at other times merging into each other and at other times sped up.
The immersive experience is both surreal and exhilarating.
It’s a Friday morning and Pfeiffer, giant coffee in hand, looks fresh considering it was the show’s opening the night before. “This is an ambitious project – it was unchartered territory and technically challenging,” says Pfeiffer as he walks his way through the exhibit.