This week I had my first installation in a white cube space, namely the Gallery in Arts University Bournemouth. While the event was at short notice, it was incredibly successful and insightful and gave me confidences about the work that encourage me that I could do an effective sound installation in a similar space. I also gave my Final presentation and plan to submit my REF702 later this week.
Reflections from the Installation:
Overview - Essentially The haunting quality was very powerful in the space, it encouraged a self-awareness of whether the sound is actually playing or whether I the spectator am making the sounds I’m hearing. The aspect of having to walk around the room and make sounds like footsteps etc in order to find the sound, to find where the beam of sound can be heard best and where the sound is coming from, encouraged an active participatory audience, even in myself who knows exactly how the sound is interacting with the space.
Modulation of space - The reflective feedback of the sounds get louder when they cross the planar threshold of wall and ceiling or floor. And especially loud when aimed at a corner of the room.
In the process of setting up the installation, I found it easier to close my eyes and feel where the beam is facing through my ears, despite my active attention on the sound not changing, this enabled a much more accurate use of the speaker. And in my midst eye I felt as if I was shining a torch in the dark.
"We stroke the boundaries of space with our ears" Pallasmaa, 2012
I aimed the beam at the corner of the room as the reflections spread through the room more easily like how the subwoofer did, you could tell that the sound was coming from that area of the room however, and this enticed the listener to cross the threshold of space and enter the direct beam of the sound.
This immediate and tactile feedback of the space having a modulating effect of the sound installed into the space is an amplification of how the space affects all sound and proves this effect.
Subwoofer - The reflective sound of the subwoofer fills the space evenly due to architecture, Allowing a resonant tone which did not feel out of place, especially with the loud ventilation sounds that were already haunting the space. Its presence can really be felt rather than heard, especially underneath the general noise of a public setting.
Responsive haunting - The quality of the sound beam being completely interrupted by obfuscation is an interesting aspect. One that could be avoided, by angling the beam from the ceiling instead, however I think it also adds a level of personal and social awareness.
As it could be unclear where the sound is really coming from, it feels like the sound is haunting in response to the movement of the audience, this only has a haunting quality as long as the true origin of the sound/speaker is unknown. - Therefore, this proves that this experience could be achieved with the technology, and when installed into the right setting with more preparation/budget this will better facilitate the experience of the sound as haunting.
While I was not able to experiment with angling the beam from higher up, I could do so from below. At first I thought that for some reason the audio wasn’t working, but I think it’s just that when aimed at the lower half of the spectator, their clothes absorbed a lot of the reflections, so it could not be heard. As I walked away however and my head entered the beam of sound, I could hear much much more clearly, as if listening to headphones - normalisation of acousmatic. This angling of the beam allowed for the sound to be more effectively projected further into a space, without the observer being able to use the angle of the beam to find its source.
The higher pitched sounds were much louder, despite everything being outputted at the same volume. Therefore, the only aspect I felt bad about installing into that public space was the eternal misery mosquito. Especially paired with the shepherds tone effect, I worried that it would cause too much of a sense of unease in people walking past.
Dynamic sound - In the space I became immediately aware of the other noises in the space. Such as hand dryers, doors opening and people walking through. The way the sounds echoed through the space in much more of a dynamic way had an interesting contrast to the installation. As the source of the perceived sound hinges on the direction that the speaker is facing, the sound can be perceived to move invisibly through the space. As a part of my presentation, I passed around the device and people were able to explore the speaker with more dexterity, using tactile motions to move the sound and modulate it. Perhaps, by splitting an installation into two parts, one half where the space is challenged and another half where the boundary of participation is challenged and the audience become part of the work and can themselves explore the space acoustically would be an interesting way to explore the sound and challenge the ideological barriers of the space.
Empty Space - I also became more aware of the airflow in the space. As the space was not just a white cube gallery but also a public space, there would be people walking through the installation constantly.
As doors would open, a draft of air would slip through, that could be felt lightly, but also could be heard to effect the sounds being heard. This reminded me of one of Michael Asher's works in which he used industrial ventilation to create draft in a gallery setting, the installation for which he encouraged people to close their eyes and feel the breeze in the empty space.
While in the space, especially with poitning the speaker at the corner of the room, this gave more attention to the walls and ceiling, inspiring as Ive said before an invitation for dynamic investigation off the space, where the reflections on the architecture are perceived as creating the sounds and so are observed in a new way. This sound beam places an invisible spotlight on the enclosing architecture, which not only brings its aesthetics into being content, but we the spectators become more aware of other factors on the space, such as light, shadow, dust and airflow as the feeling of being haunted, projected into the space with sound, indulges a widened focus to the space.
Range - Whilst in the space I tested for the range of the speaker. It was able to project sounds right from one wall to the other. The effect was more drastic and noticeable within a 15ft range, but was sufficiently effective at a larger range of 20-30ft. The volume of the sound within the beam was not an issue, but the resolution of the threshold. Which seemed to fade more easily at larger distances.
I found that in a social setting, when the audience does not know where the sound is coming from, there is the chance of the sound being completely muted in accordance to the movement of the spectators without the need for motion sensing modem. And that is because of the physicality of the beam, how its range is shortened if its beam is interrupted, and it instead demodulates on impact with a spectator. If the beam demodulates on their skin it will create lots of reflections which gives the audience, the feeling that the sounds emanate from that person.
Yesterday in the gallery I found that if the beam impacts clothing, which is usually softer and therefore more sound absorbent, the volume of the reflections is greatly reduced, and sound almost completely muted. This was also the source of some concerns with the volume of the speaker as I had only tested it in my bedrooms where there are lots of sound absorbing features such as a bed, blankets, hung clothing and tapestries on the walls. However, the acoustics of the gallery space were much worse and therefore, much louder.
Compostion - On the compositions themselves, none of the sounds felt out of place, especially outside of the beam, where the reflections were so quiet. Even the rumblings of the subwoofer integrated seamlessly with the sounds of the ventilation systems. The composition I installed into the space was more refined than any I had shown before and created a fantastic sense of haunting, taking full advantage of field recordings and simulated modulations of spaces. The composition was 20 minutes long and did not feel repetitive as the experience of the sound is constantly dynamic as the audience moves in, out and through the beam of sound making it constantly dynamic.
Parametric speaker - I felt it important to try and conceal slightly the device, whilst also placing it in the space on a platform that could be adjusted and angled effectively. I decided to affix it to a makeup mirror as it would allow a certain invisibility and adjustment however it was a bit make-do, I will have to think about how I can do this better before my next installation.
Videos documentation of the installation:
The installation uses a type of sound experience that cannot be effectively recorded by cameras, so the audio will sound distorted and quiet, however it is much louder and higher quality in person.
Feedback From Presentation:
- Annotate Examples so they can be more widely understood; as in by a wider audience.
- Go back to relate the discussion points to the research question constantly e.g. six domains
- Use six paths as a structure for the thesis - reflections and evaluations are important like developments ie. silent haunting surprises in research
- Use equations as an analytical framework - what does this tell me about the time in the gallery etc.
- So far I’ve explored… (Use this to refer to the research question)
- Better explain how sound reflects the haunting feelings
- Lost the thread of argument - bring it back to sound
- Spectre of spectator as a phantom? Explain why its not.
- Why is haunting clearer in sound than vision for example.
- Multi-species interest. Lists of human to animal comparisons
- Vision is so socially contextualised, the entry point to Vision is much higher than sound.
- Interactive element of presentation - think of timing, build it into presentation? - an artistic practice can bring people in much more easily.
- Set up the next steps at the end of project. - leave the audience wanting more.
- Have a conversation with violet about beginning to challenge the white cube.
- Move from experiment to resolution.
- How open are people to exhibiting institutional critique. - institutionalising institutional critique.
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