Surfaces, Volumes, and Devices

Surfaces, Volumes, and Devices. Sound environments.

MUSIC FOR DISTANCES

sound environment (2009)

Proposal for the Historisches Museum Baden (Switzerland) within DAS OHR DER ZEIT-‐ Projektwe5bewerb.

EnArely made with pre-‐recorded and electronically processed sounds from the metallic stairway in the Erweiterungsbau’s main entrance, the environment starts with the resonance of the spiral staircase, obtained through low-‐volumetric frequencies emiHed by two subwoofers located at its ends, to conAnue on the four floors of the castle, situaAng rays of medium-‐high, linear frequencies using uniquely prepared hyperdirecAonal loudspeakers (provided with lenses) in order to create sensiAve zones of listening through which visitors are invited to walk, modulaAng —quasi improvvisando— Ambres and volumes with their pace and orientaAon.

An airy architectural performance and a nomadic listening experience.

(unrealized proposal)

Surfaces, Volumes, and Devices. Sound environments. ! ! ! ! © Carla Cisno 2013

Installa5on view (material: painted steel; dimensions: 100 cm height, 30 cm in diameter). Photos: Toshiya Suda. Courtesy of Tokyo wonder Site.

BREATHING ROOM

reac5ve sound environment (2010-‐2011)

’dome’ 5-‐channel sound system (4 monitor speakers surrounding the visitors plus one speaker mounted in ceiling), 1 Hi-‐Fi amplifier, live computer, FireWire audio interface, reacAve device containing a modified dynamic microphone situated in the center of the space; wiring connecAons. Sound material: bassoon sounds. Dimensions variable.

Presented at the Tokyo Experimental FesAval_ Sound, Art & Performance Vol.6, Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya (Japan). Haruhiko Goto, technical assistant.

An inAmate world of sound. AcAvated with a simple breath (a blow) of a visitor, a mulAplicity of new sound sources magically invades the room, acousAcally creaAng micro spaces within the exisAng space.

A loose, fluctuaAng volumetric structure – a dome of sound, which elevaAon, richness of resonance and Ame of reverberaAon are the projecAons of the iniAal gestureʼs intenAonality – unfolds for a short moment, and then dissolves without leaving a trace.

A study of percepAon as inherently spaAal. The noAon of ‚felt volume’ as a sculptural experience. TemporalizaAon of space. Transparency. Ethereal construcAons with air pressure.

Sound as a radical form of materiality.


UNSEEN SURFACES

expansive sound environment (2010-‐ongoing)

GeneraAve radio art work, variable with the wind. Shortlisted proposal for a new permanent public art commission. LocaAon: Giratoire de la Caroline, Route Suisse, Tolochenaz (VD), Switzerland.

Materials: stainless steel (external structure), automaAc circuit breakers, main switch 220V AC line, fan, custom-‐modified anemometer, laptop, FM 5 waH transmiHer, FM (5/8 lambda) verAcal antenna; power supplies, connectors. Sound material: on-‐site field recordings and electronically processed sounds of water and gravel.

In the expanded perspecAve of the transmission range of an FM antenna situated at the center of the roundabout, Unseen Surfaces is an augmented threshold, defined by dynamic and immaterial boundaries, that require human interference to be acAvated.

The work acts as a hyper-‐local landscape revealer. It demands a new specificity for the territory, beyond the tradiAonal dimensional noAons of ground and site, in a sonic materializaAon process arAculaAng visible and non-‐visible surfaces in favor of a global, polyphonic percepAon of all environmental components.

The ideas of Natura naturans and Natura naturata permeate each other in the soundscape composiAon, which evolves as a mutable acousAc topography, with variable depths and densiAes, inside of which every surface is treated as a dynamic, sensiAve membrane able to register the transformaAons and the events that traverse it: the vibraAons on asphalt due to the transit of vehicles create unexpected, accidental, temporal frames while the seasonal variaAons of wind –captured by sensors– render the interacAve device organic as well as part of an ecosystem in conAnuous transformaAon.

Real Time broadcast and live spaAo-‐temporal intersecAons as a contribuAon to the discourse of a contemporary landscape culture.


The antenna. Structure details (material: brushed stainless steel, dimensions: 150 cm x 150 cm x 150 cm; antenna lenght: 166 cm).

RE-‐PLACE

soundscape and field recording work (2012)

commissioned by Europa’s Landscape,radiophonic project on Radio Labesse within the frame of FesAval Les CoErrantes, France. LocaAon: Ex-‐ Magazzini Generali, S.Marta, Venice (Italy). Equipment: Tascam DR100, built-‐in stereo cardioid mic., Coldgold buffered contact microphone.

«It is not necessarily what a society looks at, but rather what it ignores that really ma5ers in the end, and becomes the true expression of our Qmes». – Christophe Girot, The Margins of Vision in Landscapevideo. Landscape in Movement.

Four site-‐ (Ame-‐) specific miniatures capture the sonic relief of the former harbour warehouse retracing an acousAc micro topography and a perceptual experience of the peculiar VeniAan pre-‐industrial soundscape.

The natural isolaAon offered by two rows of buildings allows the listener to overhear the nuances of the underground breath springing from the grille of an industrial venAlaAon plant: invisible lines of air, occasionally broken by the distant echoes of the harbour, intersect the natural sound environment conferring it a dilated temporality on the confines of staAcness.


Re-‐Place. The locaAon: Ex-‐ Magazzini Generali, S.Marta, Venice (Italy). Photos: Carla Cisno.

VARIATIONS OF TRANSPARENCY

sound field-‐scape (2011, work in progress)

Selected proposal for a temporary arAsAc intervenAon at the Clinique des Grange5es, Geneva (Switzerland).

Conceived as a dynamic web of connecAons and interchanges, constantly open and modifiable, the work is an evanescent, fluid soundscape structured as a verAcal garden.

A reacAve landscape of breeze and leaves sounds –diffused by small loudspeakers installed in 19 paAos – will animate the internal façade of the clinic, that will become a performaAve interface between the architecture and the surrounding environment.

AcAvated and modulated by proximity, the work disintegrates the tradiAonal forms of narraAon, and creates a plural and hypertextual space, in which the users parAcipate in the constant re-‐composiAon of the emerging organic sound material by accessing and travelling the large, responsive surface in any direcAon.


Sound Fieldscape #2 (2012). Graphite on paper (dimensions: 42 cm x 60 cm).

Carla CISNOsound arAst contact: [email protected]! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Surfaces, Volumes, and Devices

Documents

Transcript of Surfaces, Volumes, and Devices