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Sitting Room 

(2008) 

is 45-minute performance for one performer, two loudspeakers, two microphones, on-body-projection and delicate sound balancing by Depart and Richard Eigner. Original composition by Alvin Lucier.

In the second incantation of the Reverb.On Series in 2008, Depart and Richard Eigner devoted themselves to the piece I Am Sitting In A Room by Alvin Lucier. This idiosyncratic electroacoustic composition summons a physical component of compact spaces, their inherent resonance. A short text, which is selfreferential and recursive both on the room situation and itself, is spoken into a microphone, recorded and fed back into the room very closemouthed in a kind of acoustical mantra until the rooms own resonant frequency is overdubbing the initial signal beyond recognition.

 

Richard Eigner and Gregor Ladenhauf were responsible for the acoustic implementation of this concept that was first realised in 1969 by American composer Alvin Lucier. Together with Leonhard Lass, who is responsible for the visual translation of the piece, performer Gregor Ladenhauf adds to the piece as voice and screen at the same time. A speaker transforming into a projection screen of his own voice, gradually disappearing like this voice during the course of the composition.

 

Original text: „I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have.” (Alvin Lucier, 1970)

 

Sound installation and soundboard control: Richard Eigner

Video projection, programming, setdesign: Leonhard Lass

Sound installation and performance: Gregor Ladenhauf

 

Source: Depart

 

 

Sitting Room, body, speech, Live Visuals

Reading

Notations 21 (2009) by Theresa Sauer features illustrated musical scores from more than 100 international composers, all of whom are making amazing breakthroughs in the art of notation. Notations 21 is a celebration of innovations in musical notation, employing an appreciative aesthetic for both the aural and visual beauty of these creations. The musical scores in this edition were created by composers whose creativity could not be confined by the staff and clef of traditional western notation, but whose musical language can communicate with the contemporary audience in a uniquely powerful way. (Notations 21 Project)

The Art of Projectionism (2007) by Frederick Baker (in German) sets out the principles behind his use of projectors in the film making process. He defines a projectionist school of filmmaking and media art. In this publication he also presented Ambient film, a surround experience that can be shown in specially developed cinemas. (Wikipedia)

Sons et Lumières (2004) – A History of Sound in the Art of the 20th Century (in French) by Marcella Lista and Sophie Duplaix published by the Centre Pompidou for the excellent Paris exhibition in September 2004 until January 2005.


Curated by the Pompidou’s Sophie Duplaix with the Louvre’s Marcella Lista, the show required a good three or four hours to absorb, with its bombardment of sensory and intellectual input, including painting, sound sculpture, sound/light automata, film and video, and room-size installations. (Frieze Magazine)

Links

 

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