Akron Art Museum

Leonel Vásquez visited the Akron Art Museum to help install Canto Rodado, a recent acquisition from the Museum.

Canto Rodado is a septet of sculptures that function individually and cohere as a group. Each sculpture comprises a wooden hexagon as a base and a spinning wooden turntable, upon which sits a large rock. The rock is slowly rotated, and a metal arm with a wooden circle at its end touches it.

This wooden circle acts like a record needle, “tracing” the grooves in the rock the way a needle runs over a record and converts the individual grooves in a vinyl disc into sound waves. Each hexagon also includes resonant circles and brass bugles to amplify the sound for a listener.

Each rock makes a unique sound, and when combined, the seven different sounds make a chorus. This installation is thus both a kinetic sculpture (as the rocks are constantly rotating) and a sound sculpture.

Leonel Vásquez, Canto Rodado, 2025
Rock gathered from an anthropogenically intervened or dried river or waterscape in Colombia, wooden needle, resonant membranes, brass bugles, resonance box, electric motor. Seven individual sculptures arranged in a septet.
17.7 x 17.7 x 17.7 in. (45.0 x 45.0 x 45.0 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Purchased using finds from the Museum Acquisition Fund
2025.27
Copyright of the artist