Sound - Space - Body Reflections on Artistic Practice Trond Lossius Bergen National Academy of the Arts Submitted in partial fulfillment for Research Fellowship in the Arts February 8, 2007 Contents 1 Aknowledgements 3 2 Introduction 5 2.1 Background . 5 2.2 Methods . 6 2.2.1 Contextualization . 6 2.2.2 Artistic Practice . 6 2.2.3 Art as code . 8 2.3 Results . 9 2.4 Discussion . 9 3 Sound and Space 11 3.1 Introduction . 11 3.1.1 Coordinate System Conventions . 12 3.1.2 Technical Equipment . 12 3.2 Acoustics and Psychoacoustics . 13 3.2.1 Psychoacoustics and Spatial Sound Perception . 13 3.2.2 Acoustics . 20 3.3 Spatialisation Techniques . 22 3.3.1 Stereo . 22 3.3.2 ITU 5:1 Surround Sound . 26 3.3.3 Vector-Based Amplitude Panning . 28 3.3.4 Ambisonics . 33 3.3.5 Wave field Synthesis . 40 3.3.6 Distance-Based Amplitude Panning . 43 3.3.7 The Ircam Spat Library and Binaural Sound . 49 3.3.8 Loudspeakers as Direct Sources of Sound . 52 3.3.9 Distant Voices . 53 3.4 A Space for Sound . 54 3.5 Data Space . 61 4 Issues of the Performative 64 4.1 Introduction . 64 4.2 Performative Issues in Installation Contexts . 65 4.2.1 Music as Process, Music as Weather . 65 4.2.2 The Memory of a Gold Fish . 71 4.2.3 Installations with Sound of Their Own Making . 79 4.2.4 A Shared Space . 98 1 CONTENTS 2 4.3 Performative Issues in Live Art . 102 4.3.1 Works for Stage . 102 4.3.2 Working with Real-Time Technology in Live Projects . 104 5 Concluding Remarks 109 6 Artistic outcome 111 6.1 Installations . 111 6.2 Stage works . 112 6.3 Music commission . 112 6.4 Various projects and events . 113 6.5 Prices . 113 Chapter 1 Aknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Jermey Welsh and Morten Eide Pedersen for the many valuable discussions over the last years and the general trust and interest in my work. Jeremy Welsh have not only filled the role of supervisor, for the last three years LMW has been a framework for a series of collaborations between Jeremy Welsh, Jon Arne Mogstad and myself. Unorthodox as it might be to mix roles this way in academia, it has enabled exchange of thoughts, ideas and hands on experience between the three of us that I do not believe would be possible otherwice. Jon Arne Mogstad, although not formally a supervisor, have been an invaluable additional resource to me, not only because of the projects we have been doing together, but also for the continu- ous ongoing discussions we have had at our studios over numerous cups of coffee. The same holds true for Karen Kipphoff, also a collaborating partner and colleague at the Department of Fine Art. I would like to thank colleagues and students at Bergen National Academy of the Arts for making it such an inspiring place to work. In particular I would like to thank the headmaster, Nina Malterud, director Johan Haaberg and dean Paula Crabtree for their support and interest in my work. I would also like to express my thanks to the participants at the gatherings of the fellowship program. I am fortunate to be surrounded by a network of artists, curators, theoreticians and friends that have contributed to my work one way or another: Thanks to Mari Aare and the rest of the staff at Hordaland kunstsenter for hosting Cubic Second. I am particularly grateful to Hilde Hauan Johnsen for valuable discus- sions and suggestions concerning the design of the room, Are Hauffen and Kristian Skjold for their help in the construction, Hanc Christian Gilje for lending me tech- nical equipment, and Matthias Arvasstson, Marieke Verbiessen and Elin Solvang for additional assistance. Q-art 2006 was organized and curated by Kari Skippervold, Petter Kleven, Johan Butenschøn Skre and Anne Vesaas. Staged Spaces was a collaboration with Karen Kip- phoff. Quiet and Relaxed, but Alert was a collaboration with Jana Winderen. White-out was a collaboration with Kurt Ralske. My contribution to Generator.x was curated by Marius Watz, and produced by Anne Britt Strømnes and Jana Windren. Data used for the project were provided by Frode Flatøy at Bjerknes Centre for Climate Re- search. Trickster was a collaboration with Andrea Sunder-Plassman.¨ Ex te lux oritur was a collaboration with Agnethe Christensen. Elektropoesia was a collaboration with Kurt Ralske for Electrohype, curated by Anna Kindvall and Lars Midtbø. Lydspor was a collaboration with Asbjørn Flø, with additional assistance from Henrik Sundt, 3 CHAPTER 1. AKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 Stale˚ Stenslie, Astrid Midtbøe, Odd Magnus Nilsen, Andreas Mork and Cato Langnes. Prøverommet Beta was curated by Ellen Røed and Torunn Skjelland. Kunsten a˚ ga˚ pa˚ vannet was a collaboration with Jana Winderen and Jørgen Træen. Hacker and Tracker were collaborations with Frode Thorsen and Gitte Bastiansen, produced by Helge Øye for Rikskonsertene and Oppland fylkeskommune. Cracker was a collaboration with Frode Thorsen, Gitte Bastiansen and Gisle Frøysland. Verdensteatret has been of particular importance to my development as an artist, and the methods for cross-disciplinary work and thoughts on integration of art and tech- nology of Verdensteatret have formed the basis for working methods in other projects: Lisbeth J. Bodd, Asle Nilsen, Hkon Lindback,¨ Piotr Pajchel, Ali Djabbary, Per Flink Basse, Corinne Campos, Øyvind B. Lyse, Bergmund W. Skaslien, Erik Balke, Lars Øyno, Morten Pettersen, Petter Steen, Kenneth Korstad Langaas,˚ Reinert Mithassel, Kjeld Kemp, Christian Blom and Jannicke Lie. This text discuss some works done prior to the period of the research fellowship: Ekkofisk, 2000-2001 was a collaboration with Reinert Mithassel, with additional input from Ole Henrik Moe and Karle Lange. Norway Remixed was a collaboration with Asbjørn Flø and Risto Holoapinen, curated by Bjarne Kvinnsland and Tilman Harten- stein. Erotogod was a collaboration with Stale˚ Stenslie, Asbjørn Flø and Knut Mork Skagen. Living Room was produced by Janne Stang Dahl of Produksjonsnettverk for elektronisk kunst in collaboration with Trondheim Elektrokisk kunstsenter, with the following participants: Andrea Sunder-Plassmann,¨ Jeremy Welsh, Reinert Mithassel, Trine E. Eidsmo, Tinna Ludviksdottir, Thorolf Thuestad, Moritz Tredup, Nils Claes- son, Espen Gangvik, Robin Stockert,¨ Kristin Bergaust, Kenneth Langas˚ and Per Jonas Lindstom¨ and myself. The Lydgalleriet collective has been a valuable resource: Jørgen Larsson, Maia Urstad, Roar Sletteland, Bjørnar Habbestad and Thorolf Thuestad, Steinar Sekkingstad and Erlend Hammer. Special thanks to BEK - Bergen Center for Electronic Arts for all assistance provided. Atelier Nord, NoTAM and PNEK have all supported projects in one way or another. The initial ports of the Max library tl.objects to Mac OSX and Windows were done with the assistance of Jan Schacher and Franc¸ois-Eudes Chanfrault respectively. Ja- moma has been a joint development with Tim Place, Alexander Refsum Jensenius, Pas- cal Baltazar and Dave Watson with additional input and suggestions from Alexander Fogar, Mathew Aidekman, John Hudak, Thomas Grill and Jeremy Bernstein. Andre´ Sier and Mathieu Charmange have provided valuable feedback on the distance based amplitude panning method. Several mailing lists have been continuous valuable sources of information and help, in particular the maxmsp, sursound and ftm mailing lists. I would also like to express my thanks to the elves at Cycling’74. If anyone has been accidentally left out, please accept my apologies and let me know, so that I con do the necessary corrections. I am deeply grateful to my wife, Laila Linde Lossius, for her endless support, understanding, encouragement and patience. I would also like to express my gratitude to our three sons, Thomas, Martin and Alexander, as well as the rest of the family. Chapter 2 Introduction 2.1 Background Coming from a musical background, having studied composition at the Grieg Aca- demy, I became more and more involved with sound installations in the late 1990s, influenced by among others the work of Brian Eno, John Cage and Erik Satie. In a somewhat similar manner to Risset (2003) I wanted to sculpt and organize directly the sound material, focusing on the sonic qualities. In 2000 I started working at BEK, Bergen Center for Electronic Arts1, and quickly became involved in a number of cross-disciplinary projects, collaborating with other artists most often coming from other backgrounds than my own. In the next couple of years I increasingly realized that the kind of art projects I wanted to work on did not only depend on a musical understanding, but also to a high degree had to be informed by other art practices, most notably contemporary fine arts. I felt a growing need to widen my own horizon and deepen the understanding of the different fields I was get- ting involved in. For this reason I applied for, and was accepted, a research fellowship in the arts in 2003, at Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Department of Fine Art. During my research fellowship I have aimed, through work on installations and other interdisciplinary projects, mainly in collaboration with other artists, to explore installation and other interdisciplinary forms of expressions as points of tension and intersection between contemporary music and contemporary fine art. My goal has been to get closer in my own artistic practice to achieving a synthesis of these fields. I therefore have aimed to develop a greater degree of interdisciplinary competence, increasing my knowledge and understanding of several different artistic fields, and integrate this competence into my ongoing artistic work. An important as- pect of this contextualization has been a deepening of my knowledge of contemporary art, with a particular emphasis on sound art, installations and issues of site.