More Noise comprises 14 scattered,  interconnected and overlapping neon phrases which read ‘MORE NOISE’ and ‘THAN SIGNAL’ in four different colours, installed at floor level. The work, in one sense a jumble of neon and tangled cables, invokes the idea of sound, developing Etchells’  interest in the relation between pattern, order, disorder, sense and nonsense.

The work was commissioned for Bloomberg SPACE by Bloomberg, 2016, and was first presented there in a solo show from January-March 2016, as part of Artichoke’s ‘Lumiere’ project. The show centered on More Noise, which was featured in dialogue with Etchells’ existing works Mirror Pieces (2014) and Let’s Pretend (Large) (2014).

About Tim Etchells’ neon and LED works
Etchells’ neon and LED pieces often draw on his broader fascinations as an artist, writer and performance maker, exploring contradictory aspects of language – the speed, clarity and vividness with which it communicates narrative, image and ideas, and at the same time its amazing propensity to create a rich field of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Through simple phrases spelt out in neon, LED and other media, Etchells strives to create miniature narratives, moments of confusion, awkwardness, reflection and intimacy in public and gallery settings. Encountering the neon sign works, in the streets of a city or in the space of a white cube gallery, the viewer becomes implicated in a situation that’s not fully revealed, or a linguistic formulation that generates confusion or ambiguity. As often in Etchells’ work, in the neons the missing parts of the picture are as important as the elements that are present. Invoking a story, or projecting an idea out-of-context, the work invites us in, but into what exactly we can’t be sure.