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AA School of Architecture
36 Bedford Square
London WC1


29th April  - 27th May 2005

a site specific installation within the exhibition:
Can Buildings Curate
curated by Mathieu Copeland

link to Installation notebook

installation image
There are two microphones and two loudspeakers in the space.  The sound of the space is magnified, amplified in real time.  Apart from what was already there, the space is empty.

This work responds acoustically to the physical proportions and dimensions of the space and also to the physical presence of the spectator, integrating the object of the work with its subject.  This self referentiality is central to the installation - sound isn't used to illustrate, it is the idea in itself.  Fragments of sounds within and outside the space are sucked in and relocated, bounced around the reflecting surfaces of the basement area.

As with The Listening Room and other installations documented on this website, the system is arranged in such a way that when the microphone and loudspeaker begin to feed back the amplitude of the sound causes the noise gate to cut off the signal. The feedback notes resonate through the space accentuated by the reflective surface.  As the sound falls below the threshold of the noise gate the system switches back on and the process continues.

This double system consists of two systems, electronically separate within the same acoustic space.  The electronic part of the chain is independent but the acoustic part of the chain is interdependent - the two systems hear and react to each other in ways that are not entirely predictable.  The system will assimilate and adapt to any sound made in or near the space.

A documentary fragment of a moment within the installation, recorded on 27 April 2005  
click on the speaker image   
audio fragment










Double system installations
Installations
aerial view