Conceptual information
An installation that gives you access to heightened sensations of stillness, sound and vibration.
Stand still. Listen. Locate the sound. Move. Stand still. Listen. Hear the tension. Feel your movements. Relax. Stand stiller. Listen deeper. Feel the boundary between the known and the unknown, the controllable and the uncontrollable. How does the body meet the sound? How does the sound meet the body? What do you hear?
Approach one of the guitars. Place yourself in front of it and connect to your standstill. Feel free to put your hands on the body of the instrument. Try closing your eyes. From there, allow yourself to open up to the sound vibrations through the resting touch and listen. Stay as long as you like and follow the development of the sound, and your inner sensations, experience, images, and associations as the sound meets you. As opposed to a traditional instrument, these guitars are “played” by (you) trying to stand still. The living body interacts with an electronic sound system played through the acoustic instrument. In this way, Sverm-Resonans explores the meeting points between the tactile and the kinesthetic, the body and the mind, and between motion and sound.
Technical information
The technical setup of Sverm-Resonans is focused on the meeting point between digital and acoustic sound making. Each of the guitars is equipped with a Bela micro-computer, which produces electronic sound through an actuator placed on the back of the guitars. There are no external speakers; all the sound generation is coming from the vibration of the acoustic guitar. Each of the guitars produces a slowly pulsing sound - based on an additive synthesis with slight randomness on the sine tones - that breathes and gives life to the soundscape. The guitars are also equipped with an infrared sensor that detects a person standing in front of the guitar and which inversely controls the amplitude of a pulsating noise signal. That is, the longer you stand still, the more sound you will get.
About the installation
Sverm-Resonans is a sound installation by Alexander Refsum Jensenius, Kari Anne Vadstensvik Bjerkestrand, Victoria Johnson, Victor Gonzalez Sanchez, Agata Zelechowska, and Charles Martin.
The installation results from the ongoing art/science research projects Sverm, MICRO and AAAI, three projects that in different ways explore human micromotion and musical microsound. Supported by the University of Oslo, Research Council of Norway, Arts Council Norway, The Fund for Performing Artists, The Audio and Visual Fund, and The Nordic Culture Fund.
