sounding doors
Sounding doors - Group show as a part of Open Doors, Germany.
Excerpt from the sounding doors website:
'The sound art installation /Sounding Door /will explore the potential of the door’s sonic aesthetics. The special electronic equipment installed in various sites of Karlsruhe will enable composers, musicians, sound designers and artists to sonify the act of opening or closing the door and the ritual of stepping over the threshold. The participating authors will shape the door’s sonic character, created the building’s “voice”, make their contribution to the city’s soundscape or just compose music for the door. The latter will become both a musical instrument and a stage, while the composers and the “users” of the door alike will act as performers.
Sound designers create the sounds of mobile phones, crispy corn flakes and even hairdryers, while apparently leaving such essential element of daily experience as the door without due attention. Although sound design and architectural acoustics have become disciplines in their own right, the sound of architecture itself is still rarely discussed. Why are we confined to choosing a door for our home space only based on the visual characteristics of the former and not, for instance, the specific sound of its hinges?
Selected compositions will be played according to a set schedule from the 30th of August to the 10th of September at the main door of three public buildings (the Central train station, the cafe-bar “Bento gallery” on Werderplatz, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany. '
More info at: http://www.opendoors-ka.de/
Excerpt from the sounding doors website:
'The sound art installation /Sounding Door /will explore the potential of the door’s sonic aesthetics. The special electronic equipment installed in various sites of Karlsruhe will enable composers, musicians, sound designers and artists to sonify the act of opening or closing the door and the ritual of stepping over the threshold. The participating authors will shape the door’s sonic character, created the building’s “voice”, make their contribution to the city’s soundscape or just compose music for the door. The latter will become both a musical instrument and a stage, while the composers and the “users” of the door alike will act as performers.
Sound designers create the sounds of mobile phones, crispy corn flakes and even hairdryers, while apparently leaving such essential element of daily experience as the door without due attention. Although sound design and architectural acoustics have become disciplines in their own right, the sound of architecture itself is still rarely discussed. Why are we confined to choosing a door for our home space only based on the visual characteristics of the former and not, for instance, the specific sound of its hinges?
Selected compositions will be played according to a set schedule from the 30th of August to the 10th of September at the main door of three public buildings (the Central train station, the cafe-bar “Bento gallery” on Werderplatz, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany. '
More info at: http://www.opendoors-ka.de/
my contribution to the project
The playback of the audio was controlled by a sensor fitted to the door. I programmed a patch using Max/msp so that the playback speed was determined by how wide the door was opened. If opened fully, playback speed was played correctly. When the door shut, the sound would stop and re-set.
