About This Project

Tuning, Version 1: Bridged by a Corner

January, 2004

Size: 15′ x 12′ x 6′ installation variable

Materials: Piano Wire, Motor, Wood, Transducers, Sound, Audio Hardware

Tuning, Version 1, Bridged by a Corner is a sound installation using feedback and piano wire. One long wire is bisected at a length equivalent to a fifth. The wood panels in the corner act as bridges and sounding boards for the wire. Using no prerecorded audio, contact microphones connected to the panels relay ambient vibrations to transducers on the walls that also bridge the wire, sending the audio vibrations through wire and back to the corner. This eventually causes the wire to hum at its tuned frequency, as the system feeds back upon itself.

Its amplification and equalization are tuned to keep the audio in balance at a consistent humming drone that will not overload. The gallery walls vibrate and act as resonators as well, fusing the piece with its site as one large instrument and system. The subdued drone of the piece mingles with other ambient sound in the gallery, such as tones produced by ventilation. In this way the piece is also tuned to blend and co-mingle sympathetically with its environment. This offers a shifting listening experience for the viewer that is attentive to the unique conditions of a wide and open gallery space.