Sonic Acts XIII The Poetics of Space Edited by Arie Altena & Sonic Acts Sonic Acts Press, Amsterdam 2010 The Poetics of Space Contents 7 22 33 149 161 169 Approaches to Right Here, Right Space and Sound The Hybrid Architectures Now, HC Gilje’s Space is Body Centred Voice Over Interview with Raviv of Iannis Xenakis Networks of Specificity Interview with Sonia Introduction Brandon LaBelle Ganchrow by Arie Altena Elizabeth Sikiaridi Mitchell Whitelaw Cillari by Annet Dekker 51 61 75 179 189 199 Soundscape Composition Techno-poetry of Extremities as Global Music: Augmented Reality and Maryanne Amacher Electroacoustic Mental and Existential Interactive Architecture Long Sounds in Conversation with Music as Soundscape Ecology Diller + Scofidio Interview with Daan Douglas Kahn Frank J. Oteri Barry Truax Juhani Pallasmaa Blur Building Roosegaarde by Arie Altena 93 99 105 207 229 237 The Poetics of Hybrid Space Changing Space is Something that Jordan Belson and Pixel Architecture is Spatial Sensibilities Arrives with the Sound the Vortex Concerts: Media Architecture and Ubiquitous Interview with Takuro Mizuta Cosmic Illusions E.A.T The Diorama Revisited Interview with Marc Maurer by Mediatization Lippit by Arie Altena Cindy Keefer Pepsi Pavilion Erkki Huhtamo Arie Altena Eric Kluitenberg 111 125 137 249 253 255 Immersive Works for Cyborg Ritual and A Spatial Language Complete Experiences Sentic Technology in of Light and Sound Interview with TeZ the Vortex Concerts Interview with Edwin van by Arie Altena Trace Reddell der Heide by Arie Altena Biographies Image Credits Colophon Introduction 6 7 Introduction Introduction This book was compiled and edited in 2009 during the development who have delved deep into our understanding of space through of the thirteenth Sonic Acts Festival. The research, ideas, and thoughts sound, and have enabled a profound exploration of specific spaces and that led to the Festival, held between 25 and 28 February 2010, were environments. The idea that architecture and spatial design is not only the same as those that guided the compilation of this publication. visual, but speaks to all the senses, is a notion which not only informed This book is therefore a counterpart to the Festival, but not a Bachelard but also the Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa, whose The catalogue. Although the title, theme and research are the same, Eyes of the Skin was a profound inspiration for the Festival programme. the resulting product differs. Underlying all of this is not only a critique of ocular-centrism, but also The title The Poetics of Space derives from the English an emphasis on the experiential aspect of art. Needless to say, these are translation of the book La Poétique de l’Espace (1958) by the French wide-ranging issues that can hardly be covered in one book. But the philosopher Gaston Bachelard. Bachelard meticulously described the aforementioned questions and issues do return, sometimes explicitly, influence of space and architecture on humans and implicitly argued sometimes implicitly, throughout the texts presented here. for an architecture based on experience and imagination, not only on scientific knowledge and functionality. The guiding idea of Sonic Acts’ Sonic Acts commissioned texts from Brandon LaBelle, Douglas Kahn, Poetics of Space is the exploration of space and spatiality in art, Trace Reddell, Cindy Keefer, Erkki Huhtamo and Eric Kluitenberg for sound, technology, and science. We focused attention on the physical this book. Brandon LaBelle’s poetic performance-text explores how the spatial experience, on the physical and psychological impact of speaking voice relates to space. Douglas Kahn’s essay is about extremely spatial designs in a society, which has increasingly put technologically long soundwaves, such as those produced by the eruption of Krakatoa mediated communication and immaterial data-streams at its centre. in 1883, and also touches on electrical sound phenomena heard on The central motif of this book is an examination of spatiality telephone lines and the work of Gordon Mumma and Alvin Lucier. in the arts, more specifically the poetry of (abstract) space and the Trace Reddell interprets the legendary Vortex Concerts of Jordan (psychological) perception of space. In what ways do works of art Belson and Henry Jacobs in the light of cybernetic theory, space travel approach and define space? In what ways do technological artworks and cosmology. Cindy Keefer condensed her meticulous research of examine the visual, auditory and psychological properties of spatiality? the Vortex Concerts. Erkki Huhtamo’s media-archaeological account, What developments have taken place over the past centuries in the shows how the form of the Diorama, which aimed at creating an relationship between technology, space and architecture? How have immersive experience by creating an illusion of spatial depth, changed technological developments influenced our perception and conception through the years from Daguerre’s original Diorama to the modern of space and the ways in which we relate to the space around us? miniature dioramas of popular culture. The essay by Eric Kluitenberg Immersive installations, spatial sound, multi-screen projections, describes the effects of the use of mobile technology on our performances that combine sound and vision, and the innovative experience of public and private space and elaborates the concept of artistic use of technology often take centre-stage at Sonic Acts. Hybrid Space, a spatial condition that characterizes the contemporary The presentation of such works is combined with an interest in the condition. scientific and conceptual background, and in works by precursors from Barry Truax’s previously published ‘Soundscape Composition the history of art and technology. For The Poetics of Space as Global Music’ is included here because it is a clear overview of the we were also interested in how technology redefines public, private, original ideas and history of the World Soundscape Project (1973) and and intimate space, and how it has changed our orientation in, describes the evolution of soundscape composition. Mitchell Whitelaw’s and awareness of, space. The interest of visual and media artists in essay directly relates to the Sonic Acts XIII exhibition programme, which such issues links up in interesting ways with the research and works features a spatial installation by HC Gilje’s; Whitelaw establishes a link of different generations of sound artists and soundscape composers between tangible spatial installations and immaterial network culture. 8 9 Introduction Juhani Pallasmaa’s ‘Mental and Existential Ecology’ is a lecture from 2008, in which he pleads for an architecture that places the mental ecology of humans at the centre. These articles are interspersed with interviews with artists, architects and composers – though these terms are not really applicable to contemporary practitioners. It is especially difficult to label Raviv Ganchrow, whose practical and theoretical explorations of sound and space are the subject of the first interview. Maryanne Amacher’s work was very much on our mind while we were working on The Poetics of Space. We originally intended to invite her to participate in the Festival, but learned that her health was too frail. She passed away on 22 October 2009. While the Maryanne Amacher Archive has started to sort out her papers, we thought it fitting to re-publish a conversation between her and the American composer Frank J. Oteri from 2004, as it sheds light on many of her interests and furnishes an accessible description of some of her artistic intentions and concerns. Takuro Mizuta Lippit takes the perspective of a performer on working with space and sound. The interviews with TeZ, who works on immersive installations and performances that incorporate spatial sound and flicker, and with Edwin van der Heide, are concerned with their artistic and compositional ideas. The interview with Sonia Cillari focuses on the relationship between the body and the experience of (intimate) space. The interview with the Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde deals with subjects such as Augmented Reality, liquid architecture and how society is radically changed by technology, while the architect Marc Maurer proposes a more down to earth view of architecture that is similarly influenced by contemporary technology. Some of the utopian architectural ideas about immersive environments that informed the thirteenth Sonic Acts Festival are represented by images of Iannis Xenakis’ Diatope and Polytopes (with a text by Elizabeth Sikiaridi); the Pepsi Pavilion by E.A.T., realized in 1970 in Osaka; and the Blur Building by Diller + Scofidio. This is a book of many strands, sometimes loosely connected – sometimes tightly interwoven. Together they explore and give shape to a vibrant Poetics of Space. 10 The Poetics of Space Sonic Acts XIII 6. 2. 1. 8. 7. 3. 9. 10. 1. Anthony McCall, Line Describing A Cone, 1973 2. Anthony McCall, Line Describing A Cone, 1973 3. Anthony McCall, Line Describing A Cone, 1973/2002 4. 4. Greg Pope, Light Trap, 2008 5. Yutaka Makino, Conflux, 2010 6. Lis Rhodes, Light Music, 1975 7. Takashi Ito, Spacy 1981 8. Lis Rhodes, Light Music, 1975 9. Robert Whitman, Two Holes of Water 3, 1966 10. Robert Whitman, Two Holes of Water 3, 1966 11 Bruce McClure, And After Several Rapid 5. Strokes of Their Wings, 2009 11. The Poetics of Space Sonic Acts XIII 6. 1. 3. 2. 7. 8. 9. 1. Philip Beesley, Hylozoic Soil, 2009 4. 2. Philip Beesley, Hylozoic Soil, 2009 3. Edwin van der Heide, Sound Modulated Light, 2008 4. Philip Beesley, Hylozoic Soil, 2009 5. The AlloSphere at the California NanoSystems Institute 6. Benny Nilsen, Solid Curtain, 2010 7. Paul Prudence, RyNTH, 2010 8. Jacob Kirkegaard, Sabulation, 2010 9. Jacob Kirkegaard, Labyrinthtitis, 2007 5. 10. Gill Eatherley, Hand Grenade, 1972 10. The Poetics of Space Sonic Acts XIII 7. 2. 8. 1. 9. 4. 3. 10. 1. Greg Pope, Light Trap, 2008 2. Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand, 5. 10000 Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid, 2008 3.