transitional spaces: these are in between spaces, liminal spaces – harbours, stations, corridors, usually have background sound or ‘furniture sound’ or music. the habitual listener only notices differences rather than monotonous sounds.
airports: Brian Eno called this discreet music – music that is just meant to occupy the background, without too much feeling or emotion – just set the mood. he made works for airports using computers, having studied the psycho effects of users in these environments. in terms of perspective – local vs public. Eno created a local environment for the airport but is also an intimate soundscape as they only hear it as them walk through the spaces, usually individually. other soundscapes run concurrent with this soundscape – the sounds of trolleys, conversations etc.
harbour symphony: Joe Carter organised the ships to blow there horns at specific and different times. this creates a composition and changes the nature of the sound from a warning to a melody for enjoyment. the timeframe is dictated by the harbour master not the composer. the participants could also opt out at anytime. as it occurs over a large area, perspective changes for where the listener experiences it – it could be they experience it as a warning but may hear the piece develop into a composition. at any one place the listener may only hear a part of the composition and concurrency occurs with those listening individually, in crowds or in traffic etc.
deep listening: Pauline Oliveros maintained that everything can become a sound composition if we listen intently. she created the deep listening band. they created soundscapes in a dug out below the ground. it has specific echo properties – 7 seconds echo/resonance. therefore the space itself becomes sound. the material frame is the person making the sound and the space material. there is no way to divide them or separate them or know where they are coming from. it erases the intimate perspective as everyone can hear it. it becomes local perspective.
landscape opera: Peter Ablinger planted trees according to the sound properties and acoustic criteria. he had to take account of their sound properties, their visual properties, their suitability to the landscape, their future ability to survive. he considered how the wind effect the trees through time and against each other. the time frame is potentially timeless and continual. there is also the time frame of those experiencing the piece – how long people spend and walk through the space. the seasons also effect the sound scape, the foliage and the weather etc. the piece occurs even when there are no listeners.
some guest speakers
the garage and found metal ensemble: Scott Lindroth started with the idea of using digital media but also going back to physical materials. a presence of instruments that could be encountered through physical processing – a combination of performance and processing. his installation gives an opportunity to engage physically and an opportunity for others to be the performers. ensemble interaction is a key concern also and the notion of synchronisation – looking at how animals (biological synchronisation) occurs in firefly flashes and took this model as the framework for sound performance. he also collects junk items and places and plays them in scales. he is interested in performing in non performance spaces – such as the garage where the items actually belong.
The Sound of Electromagnetic Waves with Christina Kubisch: acoustic environments is everything that is audible to us, it can also be internal. using a telephone amplifier which create magnetic fields that translate into sound. she created a sound walk using earphones that catch electric magnetic sounds off objects. she also created music and rhythms with these magnetic sounds.
Materializing & Sonification of Movement with Matthew Kenney: Kenny is interested in making digital data physical. he pushes data through a system to generate a physical and visual piece. he also takes nodes and algorithms and throws them into space to see what forms emerged. sound algorithms are used to create physical and visual manifestations – drawings etc. 3d printing with clay is generated using data from hurricane data – capturing windspeed and directions of these winds. they also lead to performance pieces.
Auditory Architecture with Thomas Kusitzky: Kusitzky believes sound is essential to understand architecture which is not always considered in planning and designing. he sees it is not possible to avoid/silence noise in an environment but to design with sound in mind. many factors create the sound experience and environment. these factors involve what is making the sound, the space as sound scatters, who is doing the listening and how.
Leave a comment