This is a list of the Technology features that our installation will have. The software patch will be built in MaxMSP.
MaxMSP patch
This patch will be used to playback audio clips through 8-12 loudspeakers.
-MaxMSP —–>Firestudio Digital Mixer (with 8-12 outs)
-Mixer —-> Amp
-Amp —-> Loudspeaker
Diagrams will be provided
Playback
Customized playback.
Each Loudspeaker will play one audio clip at a time.
The audio clips being played change through out the day
Potential have clips move from one Loudspeaker to another.
Create Audio Patterns- This could be done based on time of day.
Options to:
Randomize
Chaos
Time control-Clip being played changes over time
Create Time Based Patterns-
Audio Control
Each Loudspeaker needs individual control over the audio clip.
This is mainly for set-up and testing in the space.
Each track will be looped for a set amount of time
Timeline/bar to know where we are in the clip
Need to control/ customize the volume and EQ for each Loudspeaker based on its location in the space
Set-up is complete MaxMSP patch will run independently
Options to:
Loop
Play
Stop/Pause
View Timeline (bar)
Volume
EQ
Future Features
Future development of this project after the soft launch
Ability to record audio directly into patch
Start playback based on sensor detection
Additional Visual components or Lighting
Options to:
Mic In/Record
Sensor Detection
Synch with Lights/Visuals
Tech Equipment List
8-12 Passive speakers
8-out Mixer
Amp
12-14 gauge speaker wire
Firewire
Power cords (Extension, Power strip, etc.)
1/4 in Male stereo Adapters (Connect Mixer to Amp)
We’ve started researching the history of the MaRS building since we are currently considering installing our voices of innovators piece in the lobby.
Here’s some info from the MaRS website:
Long before MaRS acquired it, the Heritage Building was famously associated with excellence in innovation. Formerly the ‘College Wing’ of the Toronto General Hospital (TGH) from 1913 to 2002, it was both a brilliant architectural centrepiece and a contributor to some of the last century’s most significant medical breakthroughs: insulin, the artificial kidney and the pacemaker, among many others. But its research legacy runs deeper. The new hospital site on College and University was not built simply to update the Toronto General’s facilities. It also enabled a cutting-edge research collaboration with the University of Toronto, inciting the University’s first serious exploits in biomedical research. The health legacy represented by the Heritage Building lies not merely in the numerous innovations it has produced, but in the innovative institutional relationships that birthed them.
Since its official opening on June 18, 1913 and through most of the 20th century, the TGH College Wing stood at the centre of a dynamic discovery district not unlike the new “Discovery District” envisioned by MaRS. It was built upon strong linkages between the TGH, the University of Toronto (which included Connaught Laboratories until 1972), the Ontario Ministry of Health, the City of Toronto, the Hospital for Sick Children and other hospitals of the area, all of which are key partners in the MaRS initiative today.
Indeed, the monumental discoveries that arose in Toronto are in large part products of this history of cross-institutional collaboration. In the story of insulin’s discovery and refinement, this collaborative environment might have been the deciding factor. The innovation legacy represented by the Heritage Building thus represents not just a distinguished lineage of medical breakthroughs, but a progressive institutional approach to innovation that echoes today’s push for “convergence innovation.”
Facing South.
We are developing an interactive sound installation for the MaRS building north entrance that will explore the theme of innovation in community and potentially bring innovators together. The installation will consist of multiple voices collected through interviews with innovations, some or all of whom will come from MaRS centre residents themselves.
We are revisiting our original Wings of Desire concept in which a participant can either hear the voices of individuals or the harmonies and cacophony of the many depending on where they are standing.
Our installation will encourage participants to discover the meaning of the voices by moving through the circular space of the North Entrance Lobby of MaRS.
One potential arrangement of our installation in the lobby.
In the diagram above you see multiple voices coming from speakers along the edge of the circle. These voices meet in the middle creating a cacophony or confusion of voices. Nodal points (dotted lines) are points of harmony and intersection, perhaps where common themes are found in the voices of the speakers.
People entering the MaRS building may serendipitously encounter these voices as they move through the lobby. They may choose to linger and discover more of the sound nodes in the middle space or move to the edges and listen to individual voices.
Encouraging Collaboration: We may also offer a paper list of interviewees with contact information along with our artist statement.
Current Goals:
Create a sacred space in a public space
Encourage participation through discovery
Use silence, cacophony, harmony and singular voices as symbols for different states of a community
‘What is the meaning of the journey in a space?’ – We will investigate the history of the lobby and MaRS building. Why was the lobby designed this way in the current building? What other kinds of architecture share this structure. What kind of sound is made for this kind of space? i.e String Quartet (referencing David Byrne, Siobhan forwarded link)
Changes from Crit 3:
We are not using the labyrinth as a model.
Questions for Crit:
We need to refine our problem and audience. Should we be exploring the discover process in our installation or encouraging collaboration among MaRS tenants?
Sometimes you’re just knocked on your ass. That was my experience when introduced to San Francisco sound composer Bill Fontana. His sound composition, “River Sounding”, captures the sounds of the Thames – the lapping water, the slapping of it, bells from above, and the singing of underground cables. And all of it amplified by Somerset House in London. This is just incredible stuff.
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Also included here is an interview with the composer, courtesy of the BBC, in which he notes that he “writes music with his ears” rather than with sheet music and instruments (and the musicians who play them, of course). He speaks of his influences and his cohorts, like John Cage, who believed that “music is continuous, while listening is intermittent.” The interview is taken in Somerset House, where his ongoing composition provides background and context. Enjoy!
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Links to his many compositions, including “Paris 1994″ (where he set out to give his audience the experience of “hearing as far as the eye can see”) can be found at http://resoundings.org/Pages/River_Sounding.html
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