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Steel spring, wooden resonating box and paint (60 x 20 x 30cm)

Concrete, lead, copper, rotary telephone, cassette player and headphones.

Each concrete block approximately 40 x 40 x 40cm

Relief letters and paint on french-polished wooden panel (52 x 30cm)

The work explored the nuanced difference between the onamatopeic words for terror and relief (Argh and Ahhh)

Silver gelatin print, photo by the artist

Some months after making the relief panel 'Between Terror and Relief', the artist spotted these two adverts on adjacent billboards on a disused electricity substation in Peckham, London.

Wood, glass, paint and light. Approx 32 x 25 x 70 cm

An image of an angel's wing and a sword are stencilled across a sequence of glass panes, held in an illuminated box

Perspex, wood, paint and lighting. Dimensions variable

In this architectural intervention, redundant film projection booths were adapted by ftting the projection apertures with backlit signage.

Strip lights, wood, steel, soot and copper wire (dimensions variable)

What is dark, but made of light? was installed in the Project Space of Camberwell School of Art, London. The ten rung ladder was made with strip lights substituting the wooden rungs. The ladder was held upright in the middle of the space with an intersecting, thin steel ladder coated in soot and spanning the width of the space.

What is dark, but made of light? 1990

Dower made a series of 3 site-specific works in the Camberwell Project Space between 1989 and 1990

Electrical Metaphor #1 - 240V AC, double electrical socket, 3 pin plugs, electrical cable, shelf and light fixture with bulb. Approx. 40 x 30 cm

Electrical Metaphoe #2 - Hertz branded D-cell Batteries, battery holder, electrical cable, crocodile clips, copper and shelf. Approx. 20 x 20 cm

Electrical symbol for 'Danger - risk of electric shock', tatooed where the heart beats most strongly, 1990

White tiled structures, canal water and plastic sheet. Dimensions variable

HIJKLMNO was installed for the artist curated exhibition SAFE, which took place in a converted warehouse on the Regents Canal in Kings Cross, London. The exhibition featured individual installations by 10 artists.

Interior of sculpture with canal water

Canal water from the adjacent Regents Canal was displaced into each sculpture

See also Bathrooms of The World

Drinking glass, speaker, wadding and soundtrack. Approx. 8 x 8 x 12 cm

Next door is a drinking glass attached to a wall with a small speaker inside. When the viewer bends down and places their ear to the glass, the speaker relays the sound of a mumbling and indecipherable male voice.

Two way swinging door, paint
Approx. 1760 x 590 x 40mm

An undersized, double swing door was fitted into an exisiting domestic door frame in the exhibition 15/1, which took place at Melania Basarab gallery in South London.

PUSH, 1992 (detail)

One of the glazed panels in the door was embeded with the instruction to 'PUSH'; however , whichever side the door was viewed form some of the letters appeared reversed. The work explores spatial paradoxes and mirror reading.

Four retro-reflective signs on aluminium, with plywood carry case 16 x 38 x 27cm

The 4 signs (London, Dover, Calais, Amsterdam) were used to hitch-hike from Amsterdam to London and back. The signs are made with the same retro-reflective film used in motorway signage and operate equally well, day or night.

2 x C-print photographs, 1993. Approx 50 x 75cm

The artist hitch-hiked from Amsterdam to London and back again. The signs reflected vehicle headlights after dark, meaning they were visible day and night

Plywood, video monitor and mixed media
Approx. 200 x 244 x 120cm

Zou Zou's Mime Reconstructed is a three dimensional, ergonomic reconstruction of a mime, taken from a 1985 performance by cabaret clown Zou Zou. The space was extracted from a video recording made at the time and reflects every detail in the original performance.

More information here

Zou Zou's Mime Reconstructed 1993 (detail)

During his mime Zou Zou engages in a number of actions, including putting on a helmet, opening 'air-locks' and going for a 'space walk'. He also manipulates a number of buttons, handles and dials, slides open a window cover and peers out, and makes himself a sandwich. Zou Zou exits the vessel at the end of his performance and thus everything apart from Zou Zou appears within the final sculpture.

Aluminium, perspex, fluorescent light. Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 60cm

Mobile lightbox with glowing text 'Good Bye' written in the artist's hand. Goodbye is positioned just inside the entrance to an exhbiition, so it paradoxically greets the viewer with a farewell as they arrive.

Exhibition view of Rational Behaviour, 1996.

Maze by Georg Herold forgrounds the sculpture 'Good Bye' in the exhibition Rational Behaviour. Rational Behaviour featured the work of five international artists and was curated by Sean Dower across the three floors of the Tannery Gallery in Bermondsey Street, London.

News display stand with poster (90 x 55 x 50cm)

Dower created several news posters around this time, altering exisiting London Evening Standard newspaper headlines

Drummer Shoots Bandmates, exhibited in Party! at New Art Gallery Walsall UK, 2010

Site-specific, 3D video projection with sound. 17 min (loop). Dimensions variable. Matt's Gallery, London.

The video was shot in and around Matt's Gallery in East London, where it was also exhibited. In the darkened gallery, the 3D, colour video used polarising filters with glasses. The viewer was embedded in the action in this sculptural installation, which referenced the tradition of expanded cinema...

LINK to more information and images here

3D polarizing glasses for visitors at the entrance to the exhibition

No Room in Hell (Absent Qualia) was probably the first 3D film to be entirely shot, edited and publicly presented in the digital video format. It was certainly the first 3D, site-specific zombie film.

Functioning within the tradition of horror and kitsch associated with 3D film, the subtitle (Absent Qualia) referenced a philosophical debate, current in the mid-1990s, where zombies are used as metaphor to explore the nature of Artificial Intelligence.

More information here

Plastic bin, PET bottles, flourescent paint, water and sheepskin rug
Dimensions: 70 x 55 x 80cm

A black plastic bin filled with water sits on a sheepskin rug. Three fluorescent-coloured, petal-like structures protrude from the surface of the dark water. Upon closer inspection, the floating 'petaloid' forms are the upturned bases of plastic bottles coated inside with flourescent paint and weighted to sit in equilbrium on the water's surface.

Three fluorescent-painted bottles used in Nature / Culture.

Scale model of Matt's Gallery with stereoscopic viewers.

MDF, paint, stereo viewers, transparencies, light, steel stand with wheels (100 x 110 x 100cm)

More information here

Room in Hell 1998, interior stereo photos

Immediately upon completion of filming for the 3D film 'No Room in Hell, 1997', the gallery was documented from multiple angles using stereo photography. The stereo views were then embeded in a scale model of the space, in locations matching their vantage. Room in Hell was first exhibited in the same space it represented.

See also: stereo viewer sculptures

Scale model of the New Art Gallery, Walsall with stereoscopic viewers.

MDF, stereo photo-viewers with 35mm transparencies, fluorescent light and stand. (160 x 100 x 80cm)

More information here

Building Site 1999, interior stereo views

The artist photographed the interior of the building with a stereo camera whilst it was under construction and the stereo views were embeded at the equivalent location in the surface of the scale model. The work was exhibited in Walsall's old art gallery, whilst the new gallery was under construction. This was part of a broader engagement to involve the residents of Walsall in the process of creating the new gallery.

See also: stereo viewer sculptures

Unwound cassette tape, hung in a tree (dimensions variable)

The recorded works of the Triffids on cassette tape were unwound and tangled in a lonely tree in the courtyard of the STUK Arts Centre in Leuven, Belgium for the exhibition: A Temporary Monument to David McComb, 2004

See also drawing: Triffid Court

Music in Trees at STUK Leuven, Belgium. 2004

Approximately 400m of cassette tape was unwould and tangled in a tree. The magnetic tape glistened and rustled in the wind and a single line of the tape trailed upwards and through a second floor window of STUK into a cassette on a window ledge inside the gallery.

Carved polystyrene mirror ball (50 x 50cm), chain, motor, light and acoustic foam

Death Star was first exhibited in 'Brown Noise' at Maurice Einhardt Neu Gallery, London in 2008. In this sculpture the small mirrors on a mirror ball were chiselled away, to reveal a 'smiley' face. In the vernacular of music venues, the surface of the ball is painted black and as the ball slowly rotates, a glinting smile becomes visible as it reflects the light from a trained spot light.

Death Star exhibited in Party! at The New Art Gallery Walsall UK, 2010

Death Star was exhibited (minus acoustic foam) in Party! at The New Art Gallery Walsall UK, 2010. Works by the artist exhibited in Party! included: Hot Music; Drummer Shoots Bandmates and Death Star.

Opel Ascona, fluorescent paint, sound system, low frequency soundtrack and UV black light. Installed at Netwerk Center, Aalst, Belgium, 2010.

Installed in the glass lobby of Netwerk Aalst, Belgium for the exhibition Musik für Barbaren und Klassiker in 2010, Ground Control is a white saloon car with its windows, mirrors and number plates painted out with fluorescent green paint, similar to the colour used in 'green-screen' applications. A low frequency sound system plays intermittent, mysterious sounds from within the car, which were tuned to make the vehicle and its contents vibrate, rattle and hum. UV lighting above the car intensifies the fluorescent colour and created a kind of spectral vision at night for anyone who happened to drive by or walk past.

For the exhibition Musik für Barbaren und Klassiker at Netwerk Aalst, Dower exhibited 6 works engaging with sound culture and also made a live perfromance. The works spanned from 1991 (Next Door) to 2010 (Ground Control).

Watch video on Vimeo

Books, wooden pallets, newspaper and kindling.
2100 x 2100 x 1100mm

Wooden pallets, percussion instruments and live cctv feed (dimensions variable)

St Simeon's Drum Riser is a 4.5m tower of wooden pallets with a cramped performance space on top. A live cctv link relays an image from the top of the drum riser to a TV monitor at ground level. During the exhibition at De la Warr Pavilion, the artist undertook 3 performances on top of the platform, activating the installation using a variety of percussion and noise making instruments.

See other works exhibited in The Voyeur

Four cast acrylic relief panels 122 x 114 x 10cm each

Steel cupboard, bass speaker, amplifier and soundtrack. 180 x 91 x 40 cm

Shaking Cabinet uses a powerful bass speaker whose sound is tuned to trigger the resonant frequencies of a steel cupboard and its contents. The low frequency soundtrack periodically causes the cabinet to rumble, shake, rattle and bang, catching the unsuspecting viewer off-guard.

Watch video on Vimeo

Shaking Cabinet at Gallery 46 London, 2016

Solo exhibition at De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill on Sea (UK) - 2012

The Voyeur was an exhibition of sculptures, photography and other objects, combined with the technology of sound. The works included: a vibrating and shaking, steel filing cupbaord; electrostatic speakers with images printed on their surfaces; sound-diffusing reliefs based on John Dee's Enochian tablets; a paraboilic dish directing a beam of sound; a long plastic curtain with white noise cascading down it; a floor drum activated via a transducer and a drinking glass mounted on the wall, with a tiny speaker inside transmitting the sound of a muffled voice. During the exhibition, the artist performed on top of St Simeon's Drum Riser, a 4.5m tall tower of wooden pallets with percussion instruments on top, whilst CCTV relayed a bird's eye view of the performer back down to ground level.

See page dedicated to The Voyeur

The Voyeur took place at De La Warr Pavilion, UK in 2012

The video is a tour around the exhibition The Voyeur. The installation operated as a kind of sound system and the audience orientated themselves through both visual and sonic cues. In many of the works, parallels were drawn between the forms and ideas of modernity and more archaic cultural practices.

Watch video on Vimeo

Cast acrylic resin and silk cloth (79 x 110 x 135 mm)

First exhibited in The World in a Box, A Bittersweet Salon. Margate, UK

Paper cutout silhouette drawing, 2013

6 engraved traffolyte panels on oak stand (64 x 12 x 4.5 cm)

Above: Noises #1, 2013. This work can sit on a surface or be wall mounted. The order of signs may be altered to suit various imagined narratives.

Each of the six versions is unique.

The order of the signs can be rearranged to suit the context.

Exterior of Hotel El Ganzo, Puerto Los Cabos, Mexico.

The artist was invited to undertake a residency at Hotel El Ganzo in 2013 and several works were commissioned, including 'WHOOSH' and 'Pangas de Pescadores'.

The Killer, hand painted wall sign 2013

A set of 7 hand painted signs based on local Fishermen's boat names from the port of Puerto Los Cabos were placed around Hotel El Ganzo.

La Ingrata, hand painted wall sign 2013

Click here for more photos and information

Solo exhibition at Dom Omladine Gallery Belgrade, Serbia 2017

The unlikely components of this exhibition combine to form an immersive ‘sound-track’ that explores how we locate ourselves, both spatially and culturally.

More information and photos here

Platform, carpet, 3 wooden stools, transducers and sound. Dimensions variable

In this sculpture, which gives its name to the exhibition, 3 rustic stools vibrate haptically with the residue of political speeches by Josep Broz Tito, Slobodan Milošević and Zoran Đinđić. The work hypothesises a conversation between the 3 political leaders across time, somewhere on the E27 (Brotherhood and Unity Highway) in Serbia, along which they were all born.

More information and photos here

Painted aluminium, 100x110cm

In the exhibition 'A Conversation along the Highway of Brotherhood and Unity' 2017, the Parabolic Sound Reflector was positioned diagonally opposite the work 'UVB-76'. The directional sound from 'UVB-76' and other sounds in the space were reflected back in an uncanny way that spatially disoriented the viewer's perception of sound.

More information about the exhibition here.

Printed electrostatic speaker, steel frame, foam, sound. 60x60x30cm

'UVB-76' is a thin, electrostatic speaker with a vibrant printed surface of red circles with thin, light blue borders. The pattern is based on a design for radio speaker baffles. The speaker emits highly directional sound and its orientation can be 'fine-tuned' by hinges that attach it to the wall. The sound is drawn from sources such as electrical interference, static and short-wave radio signals (including the mysterious Soviet era transmission known as UVB-76)

Cement panel, piezoelectric elements, amplifier and soundtrack. 62 x 62 x 3 cm

This cast cement panel is embedded with 100 piezoelectric cells. The 5cm diameter disks are made of a thin layer of brass and quartz and are used in audio applications for speakers and microphones. In this work the small cells transmit mysterious electrical sounds in a directional plane.

Link to the exhibition PLUNK, BOUM, KRASH, ZZZT here

6mm diameter steel rod, audio transducer and low frequency vibration.
Height variable

This seemingly minimal and silent sculpture transmits the haptic vibrations of a piece of distant techno music, composed by the artist. Only when the work is touched by the viewer, does the pulsating vibration reveal itself.

Cyrillic engraved Traffolyte panels on iroku stand – 17 x 100 x 12 cm

Engraved Traffolyte panels on iroku stand – 17 x 100 x 12 cm

C-print photograph with moving laser light 90x110cm

In this work a thin laser beam travels across the gallery space, striking the surface of a photograph. Triggered by sound, the laser creates changing patterns on the surface of the image. The photo is of a neolithic standing stone from Avebury henge, taken by the artist in 1984.

See video of Laser and Standing Stone here

Photograph, laser, speaker with mirror and soundtrack. Dimensions variable

A laser is directed at a small mirror attached to a speaker. When sound plays through the speaker it causes the mirror to vibrate, which in turn creates dancing, indexical patterns on the surface of the photograph.

Exhibited in PLUNK, BOUM, KRASH, ZZZT at Laure Genillard Gallery

Jesomonite cast, tinted perspex case. 490 x 450 x 215 mm

Lost Monument was exhibited in 'Can we ever know the meaning of these objects', curated by Kevin Quigley and Sarah Sparkes at Gallery 46, London 2021. Photo by Dermot O'Brien

Journal of objects. A5 booklet, 2021

Publication accompanying the exhibition: Can we ever know the meaning of these objects 2021. Dower's page details a short story about a lost civilisation and its architecture.