Concrete (2009)

Concrete is a sound installation exploring the interplay of two species of sounds: real-time vibrations emitting from objects physically present in the space vs. the virtual sound produced with a mutli-channel sound system .  Physical objects in the space are activated (stuck, vibrated with motors, etc.) and are combined with field recordings and virtual sounds created using speakers.  Sound is our perception of the vibration of physical objects (transmitted to us via the air around us).  However, when sound is recorded with a microphone, and then replayed over speakers, we create a virtual sound space which is more a product of simulating the way our ears work (the microphone as a virtual ear) than it is is a recreation of the original physical vibration.  In some ways, combining these two ideas shouldn't work-- these two ways of producing sound are intrinsically and philosophically at odds with each other. This installation explores this possibility / impossibility. This piece premiered at the Diapason Gallery in Brooklyn, NY in Dec. 2009.  The recording below is a sample from that installation.

(photo credits: William Banzhaf)