Sound CAD

16.1 channel sound installation

E:vent Gallery, London (2006)

 

John Wynne

 

 

John Wynne's installation constituted a masterful experiment

in controlled sound manipulation, intense and at times

looming, which accentuated the perception of space

as well as the sense of hearing.

-Chloe Vaitsu

  
Moe 1

This piece was impossible to document:  it was in total darkness, so there was nothing to photograph, and the sound was inextricably site-specific and dependent on 16 separate channels and a large subwoofer.  These images are from the accompanying video installation by Moe Ekapob and Kevin Ling (see below). The sound installation originated in response to a CAD drawing made by Moe, one of the residency participants from the AA (Architectural Association), as an aid to the discussion of what we would do in this space.  My initial idea was to try to make the equivalent of a CAD drawing using only sound, starting with a 3-dimensional ‘wireframe’ line drawing to trace out the dimensions of the space and then rendering the walls with ‘sheets’ of sound.  The challenge was to find sounds which would remain localised as much as possible to the surfaces of the space but which were also sufficiently distinguishable from each other to allow the visitor to negotiate the space using only sound, in the total absence of light. 

Kevin
Spending a lot of time in the space, I became acutely aware of the sounds from elsewhere in the building which filter through to and resonate in the basement space, so I decided to populate the Sound CAD with sounds recorded by Volker and the AA participants from the building itself.  These elements, filtered through my subjective experience of them as I worked in the dark, added a dramatic element to the work which momentarily obliterated the visitor's ability to navigate the space and brought the space to life by announcing its presence to the rest of the building. 

 

 
Moe2

The video component of the installation is by Moe Ekapob and Kevin Ling, who set out to work back from my ideas of rendering space with sound to investigate the notion of drawing within architectural practice and the perception of space through sound.  If space is defined through CAD drawing as light illuminate by the computer screen, can we also use sound in a similar manner?  Their animations are the result of incorporating concepts from the realm of sound within the development of architectural drawings.