About This Project

Inoculum

October, 2003

Size: 14′ x 13′ x 10′ installation room

Materials: Sound, Wood, Transducers, Audio Hardware, Light

Inoculum is a sound installation offering a zone for immersive listening and contact with specific frequencies. The sound was created, performed and recorded on-site in the 14’x13’x10′ space and then played back in the space as a site-specific composition. The tones are induced through the walls and a 4’x7′ platform-bed using transducers, creating a unification of sound with the physical structure of the space. This relationship continues through the bodies of the viewers, who are invited to spend time laying on the platform or leaning on the walls, or to simply listen at different points around the room. Vibrational pulses from the deeper frequencies are felt in the body, imparting a physicality that complements the layered, sustaining drones. Fluttering pulses are created through the beat-patterns of off-tuned tones in stereo, creating a specific tonal dimensionality in the space, as well as in the ears of the viewer. Subtle blue-purple light emits from beneath the bed, reflecting on the white floor and walls.

Frequencies for the 18.5-minute piece were chosen by finding resonant frequencies in the room and tuning them in relationship within the space, as well as their potential physical and mental effects, varying from therapeutic to abrasive. Focused use of some of these frequencies by researchers has been reported to cleanse body toxins, release endorphins, and induce feelings of universal ‘one-ness’. I am interested in the potential for these varying subjective emotional and physical experiences as induced by sound, and in offering a sensory environment in which viewers can to take time to listen and feel.