Standing waves, moving ears (Lazy Afternoons)
di Antonio Della Marina e Alessandra Zucchi
Sound changes when we move. Our project for the residency is to set up an installation in a rural building where people can experience the listening of movement while lounging on swings. Audio will be made of sine waves tuned on the resonance frequencies of the given space. Hammocks, swings and other comfortable seatings, together with furnishing arrangements made on location will be the ambience for the dedicated listening. Among various locations to use for our installation, we decided on the old school of Macieira, a very nice house surrounded by trees and secluded, right beside the village. We soon thought it would have been nice to set up some swings or hammocks inside a room once used for education.The building was long abandoned, so we worked several days to clean it up. It was often raining inside, all the window panes were broken. A lot of humidity was there also because of missing roofing tiles (we were not very lucky with the weather we mustsay). The floor was also broken and so was the electric system. We really tried to heat the fire but with very smoky results. Once the room was cleaned we started to make it our “home”, to make it cozier. After some days spent inside the old school we familiarized with it. Old things acquired new meanings: the fungus on the wall became a painting, as did the stain where the black board once stood. We made new decorations and lamps with found objects. The more time we were spending working on our piece the more we refined our personalization of the space. Alessandra located “the places of the cat” inside the room, those unique spots in which one would like to stay longer than a while, because they offer a special point of view, or the sensation of being protected, or a place for reading or contemplating. Weemphasized such spots to create the ambience for the listening environment. We then brought in coloured lights, cushions, candles and fabrics. We built the swings with large and soft seats, decorated them with textiles and hung them in front of each window. We completed the room with minimal interventions, tiny signs, traces we called “gestid’amore” or “divinities”. The audio for the installation was made with sine waves. Antonio analyzed there sonating frequencies of the two rooms to tune a stable and continuous sound, a so-called “standing wave” made of pure tones. In order to give a wider spectrum to the drone, he added some high frequency pitches tuned to the birds singing in the bush outside.
We think of our art works as for long term exploration. We asked the public to enter in small groups and to play with the swinging while listening to sound, so as to interweave visual and acoustic oscillations. It usually takes some time for the visitor to get involvedin the process of listening and to get acquainted with the sense of ‘inhabiting’ a place. We don’t know if in such a brief presentation there was enough time for the public to get deeply into it. But kids have been seen enjoying the swings after we left. During our stay we got very kind help and support from the whole community of Macieira. To them goes our deepest gratitude and respect.
Antonio Della Marina is an Italian electronic composer and sound artist, who for many now has focused his work on sine waves. Clearly influenced by the minimalist avant-garde 1960s movement of the American East Coast, the artist explores the physical aspects of sound and its relationship with human perception. Della Marina has atendency to use abstract mathematics and generators, built by him, personalized to give shape to his compositions that frequently are presented in the shape of sounds culptures. Since 1998, he’s been active in the art field, through concerts and sound installations.
Architect and a media artist, Alessandra Zucchi educated her self in the University School of Architecture. At its core, her work brings out the relationship between the architectural space and the sensibility of perception. Alessandra works with unusual materials, unexpectedly interconnected by light, sound and shapes, suggesting are thinking of our sense of space and environment. The artist has been invited to present her projects: video, performance, etc; at several art festivals across Europe and North America.
It was in 2001, in Udine-Italy, that both artists created together a permanent soundand light space call Spazioersetti. This space, of which they are also curators, has hosted an annual programme of exhibitions, talk-shows and workshops-entirely dedicated to sound and architecture.
ARTISTIC WORKS