Initiation by STRESS.FM and LISBON ARCHITECTURE TRIENNALE to present a solo project using the real time audio streaming system ….

description of Palacio Sinel de Cordes overall spatial structure..

In this version of Medusa the system spreads along several rooms and floors in a building, while its activation includes a performative intermittency to which the audience responds with a drifting presence. Therefore establishing a listening mode which also includes a soundwalk motivation.

This iteration of Medusa establishes itself along several rooms of a Palace in Lisbon (Palácio Sinel de Cordes, home of the Lisbon Architecture Trienalle). The building has 3 floors with several rooms. The audience trajectory inside the building was defined in the following sequence:

FOYER ESCADARIA SALA OESTE

SALÃO NOBRE

SALA NORTE

This trajectory started in the main foyer of the building and ended in a small room where the cello and the stereo PA are placed. This is also the performance room. Each of the other rooms had a speaker, diffusing the sounds coming in real time from the cello played upstairs, and a microphone capturing the resonance of the cello in each particular room.

Spatial and temporal compression and justaposition of multiple spatial resonances//reverberations. At the same time including the latency (glitch) of the system. The “explosion or fragmentation” of the cello happens both in time and space:

time: the granulation based on short buffer recordings of the performance. As ruined memories of performative gestures.
space: in the stereo system

Then there is colonization or reterritorialization of the cello in the sense that its sound is being “filtered” by the acoustics of other concomitants spaces. The sound of the cello is re-amplified in other rooms and the particular resonance of the room is being captured by omnidirectional microphones placed away from the speakers.

The speaker distribution in several rooms inside the building also allows to use them as discrete outputs for the granulation period… ???

To achive this MEDUSA was extended with the MATRIZ system, a realtime audio streaming system designed and implemented by STRESS:FM. (this system had been tested by me in the project MATRIZ_reference…)
The streaming system is being used in a close geography situation. Both audience and performer are inside the acoustic arena of the diffused multiple audio stream. There is an effect similar to the small latency used on the 3 pickups of the cello.

the temporal development of the concert has periods where movement of the body across space is inevitable to experience the piece. A geographic Dérive is proposed also, besides the listening drive which is part of the improvisation strategies.

MULTI TERRITORIES //
diffusing and receiving to/from
several rooms using the system´s
latency.

specific references:
Alvin Lucier
check piece in book “Chambers”?
QUASIMODO THE GREAT LOVER

SETUP

ESQUEMA JACK DO SERVIDOR TERRITÓRIOS
firewire_analog_in_1 —-> rhea_col_1
rhea_mic_1 —-> dione_col_1
dione_mic_1 —-> titan_col_1
titan_mic_1 —-> febe_col_1
febe_mic_1 —-> firewire_analog_out_1
firewire_analog_in_1 —-> STREAM FINAL

rhea – salão nobre
dione – sala oeste
titan – escadaria
febe – foyer

PERCURSO:
sala norte (onde tu estavas) -> salão nobre -> sala oeste -> escadaria -> foyer -> sala norte (onde tu estavas)

The cello´s sound may be diffused inside the SALA NORTE or extended to the other rooms. The electronic interface should in a simple gesture change this output performance. To achieve this the following structure was applied to the max-map patch:

Expression pedal:
Full (127) : only active on speakers 1 and 2 /// all pickups active /// full delay /// full panning ///

Minimum (0) : speaker 1 and 2 – bridge and condenser // no delay // central panning /// rest of the speakers receiving input from cello and diffusing in all the rooms. Each room microphone send its signal to the main streaming computer and the sum of all the resonances is heard in the SALA NORTE.

Performance precepts and characterization of the proto composition:

The concert-installation was divided in 3 cycles of around 20´performance with 2 intermissions of 1.30h period installation. Each performance developed from the sonic material of the previous installation period. The total duration of the piece was approximately 4.30h.

PROTO-SCORE//COMPOSITION

cycle 1 (opening)

suspension 1: drone // frieze pedal

cycle 2

suspension 2: granular

cycle 3 (closing)

The piece started in silence and from there the first cycle was performed. Each 1.30h of installation had a different approach, installing a different ambient in the building. Each new cycle “born” from the previous qualities of the “suspension” period, and developing this material into a new one.

Each performance (i.e. concert) developed around a cinematographic narrative with sudden cuts between “ambients”. ?? define this better
Each of these ambients establish a different horizon or deal in a different way with the acoustic horizon. There is also a different “invitation” to the audience. One might stay or move around the building.

Time

Acoustic Horizon´s depth
INSTALLATION
CONCERT
CONCERT
There is a slow construction of a “static sonic image” which might be present for a short period of 3 minutes or develop into a longer presence or suspension… The improvisation develops towards a suspension. This suspension corresponds to the installation period, where the audiences drifts around the building.

Performance Analysis

: based on audio and video documentation analyze the sonic material used and how it related specifically to the precepts of ACTIVATION

Cycle 1 (opening)
PART 1: 0:00 – natural harmonics to repetitive melodic gesture which transforms into a two string unison with microtonal variations on one note (5:48), in a static compositional gesture to end this part.

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4 : 13:25 – Transition for suspension. Frieze pedal is used in latch mode. When played the direct sound of the cello (melody) hides temporarily the background drone, which reapears sometimes with an echo o one of the played sounds. This remembers/relates to the Old School Medusa. Slowly the

Suspension 1: drone // frieze pedal

Cycle 2
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4 (Transition for suspension)_

Suspension 2: granular

Cycle 3 (closing)
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4 (Transition for suspension)_