High Fidelity Wasteland II: The Proto-Plastic Groove is an immersive sound installation consisting of a 1950s era record player that devolves the audible timescale of music from the past. The work amplifies and inhabits the impurities, noise and biological origins of shellac records – the precursor to vinyl as we know it today. Rather than rapidly spinning classical compositions and nostalgic hits at the standard 78 rpm, this work slows everything down to a mere 16 revolutions per minute and stretches sound into a sombrely encompassing landscape.

The shellac record was the first ever disk-shaped recording medium which allowed people to own, collect and listen to music in the domestic setting. As a material, shellac looks and behaves like any other plastic; however, this dark resin has organic origins. It is bioadhesive matter excreted by the tree dwelling Lac beetle which is used to create a protective shelter for her offspring. Chemically similar to synthetic polymers, shellac is considered a natural form of plastic. And though shellac was rapaciously harvested and commodified throughout the 20th century to make music tangible, the era of the shellac record represents the only (and very short-lived) period where the music recording industry was sustainable.

Darsha Hewitt developed High Fidelity Wasteland II: The Proto-Plastic Groove in 2021 during her residency at KONTEJNER (HR).

Darsha Hewitt is an interdisciplinary sound artist that critically investigates the materiality of music and sound, (planned) obsolescence and the practices of technology that consumer society throws away. With a media archeological approach, she deconstructs generations of obsolete technology to trace out systems of power, economy and control inherent throughout technological infrastructures. Her works simultaneously demystify the confounding inner systems at play within our technology while transforming it into unexpected sonic experiences that raise questions about our technological entanglements and their implications on humans and ecology.

Hewitt’s work is presented internationally, with recent exhibitions at Ars Electronica (AU), Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art (HZ), Hong Kong City Hall, Halle14 – Centre for Contemporary Art (DE), MU Artspace (NL), The Museum of Art and Design (NYC), Hartware Medien Kunstverein (DE), Gaitée Lyrique (FR), Deichtorhallen centre for contemporary (DE), Kampnagel (DE), Modern Art Oxford (UK), Transmediale / CTM Festival Berlin (DE) and WRO Media Art Biennale (PL).

Funded by the European Media Arts Platform (EMAP) and hosted by KONTEJNER.

Images: courtesy of the artist.