union

Camberwell Leisure Centre,
Artichoke Place, SE5
Free
Sun, 2 July, 2006, 12 – 5pm

spatial unification through sound

This installation addressed issues of site, sound, occupancy, and most importantly, perception.

There are two corridors within the Camberwell Leisure Centre. Since the buildings conception the corridors have existed parallel to each other, only separated by the pool and gym they tacitly serve.

As the corridors will never meet, Audialsense reunited these corridors with sound.

The installation was executed in a working community center, with attendant activity, exitement and noise. This worked in counterpoint to the 'drone' like tones of the work.

Two acoustic systems were placed in each corridor. Neither system could exist without the other. The two corridors shared a symbiosis, leading to a spatial union born of sound.

The two corridors were articulated acoustically in terms of ‘wavelength’ and the tonal bandwidth of the human voice.

This was achieved by playing sine waves into a space that represented the dimensions of the two corridors. For example, a distance of 5.2 meters has a wavelength of 65 Hz, which is also the lowest available note on a cello. This method has a parallel in systems of harmonic proportion used in the renaissance. These base tones were further modulated by scrolling tones oscillating slowly between the tonal extremes of the human voice, both male and female. The gendered tones interacted to a predefined algorithm, creating specific interference patterns within the space.

As the sine waves reflected off the reflective surfaces of the corridor, 'pools' of standing waves were formed. As an occupant moves through the space, a landscape or sonic topology, was created which could be perceived by the occupants and remembered as one moved through the space.

This immersive, acoustic environment was a reaction to the sound and the space working together.

(more images to come.)

audialsense would like to thank Ann Lawlor of Camberwell Arts and JBL professional for their support and encouragement in this project.

video shot by Philippe Brysse