Project 5: Sound Installation

Our main and final project for the aural terrains that will be presented to the audio foundation is to create a sound installation in the audio foundation building. This time we could form our own groups of four but have had to collaborate an idea very quickly to get confirmation that it will be possible to do this. My group and I first wanted to understand what a sound installation is and define what it is we would like our audience to understand from our sounds. That is why we looked up multitudes of different work and how others had reacted to their work. I thought this would be useful as the first thing to know since most of the last few weeks have been about understanding different ways of perception and adopting to new outlooks in sound.

Nic measuring the length of the stairwell to see if it is coherent with our idea.

We constructed an idea of having a variation of combinations of sound by allowing a variable to mix up the sounds. For this we would have a flow of water that acted as the catalyst to initialise the sound from switches that connected when the water touched the two wires. There could be multiple paths that the water could take or possibly be directed by an interactor of some kind to choose what sounds would play. For us to play the sounds when the switches are on we will create a keyboard hack and connect it to a program that will allow for sounds to be played on command. This was our preferred idea because it allowed us to visually see the sounds being made in a way that combined two elements that would not normally be seen as being able to work together. I thought from here we would be able to produce some in depth and meaningful metaphorical context.

Looking up at the stairs at the Audio Foundation

Looking down the stairs at the Audio Foundation

Unfortunately after a few days of developing this idea we have had problems giving understanding for its meaning. After talking with the teacher it has become clear that we did not completely understand what a sound installation is and that we need to utilise the space and understand that a big part of the installation is the environment surrounding it. When going to check out the Audio Foundation we have found restrictions in the space suggested for our installation, a lot of what we are concerned about is getting sufficient amount of materials to flow our water without it losing the initial concept, it would also be very difficult to attach the installation to anything and keep them in place while keeping the area a safe passage to walk in. While still continuing with our idea we have done some testing with the water and fortunately it can work quite well with the switches and keyboard hack but only if we add salt to ionise it. The flow of the water will also be an impact on how long we want our sound to last as it can travel very far in a long distance. If it is possible we are willing to put our installation into a meter size box which would solve all physical problems but will contrast on how its location and surroundings will be relevant to the project. For our group this was a major setback and made us realise that we would have to think about how we can keep in with the rules of the sound installation while keeping with our idea that we all saw as having potential. I thought that it was better to finding a solution to this problem rather then starting again. This is because I feel like starting over is the same as quitting which I am very stubborn in nature at doing.

Over the weekend we will all determine if we want to stick with our original idea and how we will construct it into the building or consider a new idea that would be concerted around the environment first.