Mid-October there’s yet another seminar of the fellowship program. For this seminar we’ve been asked to present and raise an issue that is of importance to us in relation to our projects at the moment. We’ll be doing a 35-45 min. introduction/presentation and then there will be another 45 min. set aside for a general discussion using a pool of ± 15 of the attendees gathered among other fellows supervisors and members of the board. I imagine this can be a great opportunity for receiving valuable input from several different perspectives.
We’ve had to write up a short text describing the issue we want to discuss. Below is a rough translation of what I’d like to discuss:
Sound in space – space in sound
Work on setups of multiple loudspeakers is an integral part of installations carried out as part of my my fellowship project. In the later years I’ve tried several strategies for distributing sound between loudspeakers. Different techniques and solutions generally depends on different sets of preconditions assumptions aims and practical considerations. One way of categorizing various approaches could be:
- Solutions aiming at a neutral and authentic reproduction of the sound in the room being used for listening.
- Techniques aiming at creating the illusion of being in another room (e.g. a concert hall or church) and aiming at doing so as convincing as possible.
- Synthetic techniques not aiming at reproducing any existing room but rather using the techniques at hand to create an illusion of virtual space that might not possibly exist but still (or for that reason) is of artistic interest.
When I first started using multiple loudspeakers I wanted to create settings where the audience would by physically position inside the sound. Another interest is to use sound and sound positioning to describe and create a consciousness about the room you are in a more sculptural approach. David Toop discuss the relationship of sound space and memory in his book – Haunted Weather – . Brian Eno have been talking about creating music – – where I suddenly was in some way connecting with another place or another time – and using delays filters reverb etc. in unorthodox ways to achieve this. To me it’s getting more and more obvious that work on sound and space can become a strong expressive means and it is an aspect of my work that I want to investigate further.
