With this installation concept, I return to the principles of ‘imbalance’ I used in a fragile imbalance, my very first feedback work. Direct interaction with the audience has been transformed into a sound behaviour which is still spatially situated, but relying more on principles of musical balance and coherence. I also left out any additional sound effects in the pursuit of a more ‘puristic’ approach, which means that all that can be heard are pure feedback frequencies, resulting from a dynamic filtering process.
The installation behaves as a self-regulating organism, continuously tracking what sounds and adapting to it. Feedback frequencies are boosted or suppressed based on principles of pitch relation, duration, balance and change. Physical presence and external sound input (such as music) have a perceivable but largely indirect impact on the sound behaviour, which invites to a contemplative rather than an instrumental interaction.
The tuning of the installation combines ecological principles, algorithmic thinking and intuitive ear-work in situ. Versions can be tuned to different spaces, moods and situations and can be programmed to generate a variety of identities, from fast-changing textures to slow changing drones.
My primary motivation for this type of work is to create on the edge of sound art and music, combining time-based design with spatially determined sound interactions. The result is a sonic identity that behaves in more or less coherent and musical ways, and at the same time generates unpredictable and often surprising sound patterns and harmonies.
Close Harmonies – excerpt recording 13/01/19
Slow melodic and microtonal changes. The waterlike or percussive artefacts are the result of self-adapting pitch filters. I chose to happily accept them as they add an aspect of liveliness and bear witness to the activity that is happening in the software and on the spot.
