Sound installation
Sound installation is a multidisciplinary practice, based on concepts of space and sound. This theoretical and practical course is taught by a team of instructors composed of a sculptor, a composer, an architect specialized in acoustics, and an artist working in the field of transdisciplinary practice. The course will cover the fundamental concepts necessary to develop a practical project involving the syntax of three-dimensional space; spatial organization in urban spaces and natural environments; the organization of sound, project management in the acoustic space, and a critical investigation that interrelates historical aspects with the practical realization of a collaborative sound installation by the students.
This module is lectured by the professors Pedro Alcalde, Luz María Sanchez and Mathias Klenner, with the following structure and contents:
Space – Luz Maria Sánchez
4 sessions of 4h.
This part of the topic will address the syntax of three-dimensional space and spatial organization in urban space and in the natural environment. Spatial structuring will be studied through narrative routes and space sequences and introduced into the materials, construction techniques and artistic processes required for understanding and practical experimentation in sound sculpture and installations in three-dimensional space.
– Geophonies of silence
Sound identity of the place, sound environments and active listening. Sound drifts, sound walking, solitary walkers, flaneurs, walking artists and poets. Genius loci or the spirit of the place. Shinrin Yoku, microsounds and inaudible sounds. Silences in literature. Silent installations, performances and happenings.
– Sound mapping and geolocation
Frontiers, levels and sound layers in urban space. Urban spaces defined by dynamics and mobility. Spatial and temporal trajectories. Sound compositions of urban spaces. Artistic mapping: maps of sounds, feelings and sensations. Graphical representation systems, reading codes, classification, processing and transmission of information. The city as text and stage, with multiple reading possibilities.
– Expose sounds
Experience sound with the timbre of materials and shapes. Notions of Rhythm, Composition, Symmetry, Harmony and its interrelationship in the plastic, performing, musical and three-dimensional arts. Cymatics, draw with sounds, images of how sound propagates into materials with geometric paths and patterns.
– Notions of space
Perception of space, physical, mental and sensory. Surfaces, territories and boundaries. Lines and routes in space. Trajectories, spatial and temporal stages. Rhythmic transitions and successions between spaces. Sound sequences, geometry of spaces and materials. Sound design of the space.
Sound – Pedro Alcalde
4 sessions of 4h.
This part of the topic is interconnected with “Space” in shared sessions. Sound will be considered both, as a temporal flow, as in its relationship to space and all projects that involve a multi, inter or anti disciplinary interaction with other arts or events.
– Playing with values and intensities
Sound wave and perceived sound: magnitudes and parameters. Practical creation exercises with isolated parameters: frequency, intensity, duration, partial spectrum, envelope and hood. combinatorial. Random roulette.
- Debate: sound and light, listening and vision, other senses.
- Practice: SCREEN SOUND COMPOSITION, short video with image and sound based on different games with sound parameters.
Texture maps
Graduation of the sound event flow: compositions with textures. Phrase and paradigm: horizontal timeline (opacity /clarity) and vertical density line (homogeneous/heterogeneous). Types of textures and ways to combine and juxtaposition.
- Debate: sound sources, attributes, morphologies, symbolism, aesthetics, ethics.
- Practice: REAL OR IMAGINARY SOUND MAP, mapping with audio files.
– Instructions, Scores, Annotations
Sound procedures, rhythms and developments. Tools: magnify, minimize, modify, give other use, rearrange, combine.
- Debate: regulatory categories: linear / nonlinear, unit / multiplicity, durable / fleeting, objective / subjective, collective / individual, order / chaos, closed / open.
- Practice: GRAPHIC SHEET AND SOUND DIARY, with audio materials.
– Sound scenes
Sound in interaction: installation, performance, video, cinema, net-art, dance, theater, public spaces, urban planning, landscaping, architecture… The different stage functions of sound will be worked: structural (association, continuity, punctuation), emotional, referencing, factual, symbolic and aesthetic in relation to different elements: theme, characters, action, space and time.
- Debate: sound “in”, “out” and “off” – image / sound: identity, complementarity, opposition.
- Practice: SOUND SCENE theme (AUDIO / VIDEO), duration and free format.
Project Management – Mathias Klenner
2 sessions of 4h.
The Project is the set of activities performed by a person or entity to achieve a certain objective or outcome. These activities can be interprofessional and therefore very interrelated. The project is based on different knowledge that is displayed through diagrams, drawings, graphics, schematics, sketches, models and other kinds of representation, this information is presented in print and/or digital format, developed to determine in some type of support, such as a work or an installation. Since the objective pursued by the project must be fulfilled within a certain period defined above and respecting specific budget and conditions of execution in the place and / or workshop, transfers, insurance, etc., is necessary a contract of legal clauses, descriptive and technical reports, graphic documentation, status of measurements and budgets, which sometimes must be very detailed.
– Project management
- Preliminary draft
- Project
- Descriptive memory
- Technical memory
- Floor plans, heights and sections. Detail maps
- Specifying technical conditions
- Measurement status
- Budget
- Promotion
- Contract (terms of completion and billing)
- Billing. Management and taxes
– Reading plans
The scale
- The plant and top floor plan
- Heights
- The sections
- Perspectives and renders
- Demolition and new construction
- Models
Sound Installations – Luz Maria Sanchez
4 sessions of 4 hours each.
The course is divided into two parallel sections: one reflective/theoretical and the other practical. It concludes with the creation, production, and exhibition of a collaborative sound installation project with the participation of the students in the class.
Sound installation emerges at the intersection of many practices that have led to radical ideas about new forms of artistic creation. The term sound installation was coined by Max Neuhaus in the late 1960s and refers to a permanent or semi-permanent artistic form that exists both in public spaces and cultural contexts. These installations use sound to shape, transform, create, and define a specific space, and they do not exist in isolation but within their context: the context of their sound environment, their visual environment, and their social environment (Neuhaus 1994).
Throughout the course, the links between these interdisciplinary relationships are explored, observing how the spatial and relational qualities of sound are fundamental to building immersive environments. Through a collective research process, the aim is to foster critical thinking and provide a conceptual foundation for the creation of a final collective practical project. During the course, non-chronological analyses of seminal sound installations and relevant theoretical reflections are developed.
– Sound Installation – Theoretical Approaches
The course addresses ideas generated by theorists and creators who have reflected on the role of sound in space, and specifically on sound installations, including Max Neuhaus, Salomé Voegelin, Seth Kim-Cohen, Lucy Lippard, Brandon LaBelle, Gascia Ouzounian, Raquel Castro, and Christoph Cox, among others.
– Sound Installation – Context, Space, and Sound
In sound installation, context and space are essential elements that determine the relationship between sound and its environment. Context, understood as the physical, social, and cultural environment, influences how sound is perceived and experienced. Space, both architectural and social, acts as a vessel that modulates sound, transforming the listener’s perception. Works by seminal and contemporary authors from different geographical regions will be reviewed, including Max Neuhaus, Christina Kubisch, Janet Cardiff, Tania Candiani, Maryanne Amacher, Susan Philips, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, and Rebecca Horn, among others.
– Sound Installation – Creation, Production, and Public Presentation
Students will work practically on a collective sound installation, applying the theoretical and practical concepts discussed throughout the course. This collective project will involve the exploration and experimentation of sound in a specific physical space, considering both the architectural characteristics and the social and cultural context of the place. The final collective work will not only be a technical exercise but also a reflection on the relationship between space and sound, aligning with contemporary sound installation practices.
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