Ken Ehrlich + Brandon LaBelle
"Audio Response Mirror"
feedback installation
at Scaniaparken, Malmö, Sweden, as part of Full Pull 08
September-October, 2008

 

 

audio documentation, Frans Gillberg

The work was developed for the Scaniaparken located on the edge of Malmö as part of a new development. The Park itself contains a landscaped-listening area, with 4 sunken speakers distributed evenly across the circular area. Regular playing of selected music tracks can be heard throughout the year, creating a special zone within the Park. Focusing on the existing electronic system in place, we approached the Scaniaparken location as a site structurally determined by the amplification of music and sound. The existing electronic sound system was used as the sole source for the production of the sound work through a series of feedback investigations. Using two microphones and a mixer, feedback was generated over a 40-minute period, allowing whatever elements and input were present to influence the movements and modulation of sound, including voices, wind, ambiance, etc. Frequencies ranging roughly between 200Hz and 10,000Hz oscillated between the left and right channels, producing a stereophonic conversation. This was recorded directly from the mixer to capture the intrinsic details of the resulting sound. By re-presenting the feedback as a recording, the work creates a tautological yet site-specific proposition: if the formation of this landscape is defined by the installation of a sound system, influencing social behaviours, interactions and extended memories of the site, the performance and amplification of that system's very mechanics holds out the promise of tuning listener's into the functioning media apparatus as the structuring device behind one's experience. The work was amplified in the park over the course of a six week period.

Thanks to Frans Gillberg and Mathias Holmberg, for their invitation and energy.