Abstract - Intention

For the second part of the project the emmeteur I will be examining the material consequences of wire and the phenomenological implications of vibration and resonance. Acoustically all sound is vibration, architecturally all buildings move causing material disturbances thereby resulting in material vibration and resonance. Based on my previous explorations in capturing acoustical vibrations by means of an Aeolian harp and piezo microphones I have discovered that acoustic vibration is a subtle ornamentation of space that is both temporal and spatial. The question is what is the place of ornamentation in the design of architecture? I will be researching the scientific, the cultural and the artistic implications of this question.

The scientific exploration will look specifically at material resonance and vibration, both structurally and musically, as a dynamic condition in a building that creates a material disturbance. This includes a polyformal system, where sound is an orientator, a way of ‘seeing,’ an extension of the body (the body as all ears, or as part of the disturbance). I will be looking specifically at haptic material understanding of wire, in the manner of Karilee Fuglem, understanding tensile structures and polytopes, such as used by Iannis Xenakis, and understanding material resonances, as used by Harry Bertoia. The vibrating condition of the tensile structure acts like a stringed instrument.

The cultural implications relate to the retraining of the body. In today’s North American culture we have lost the ability to listen, hear and perceive sound. As a society we are obsessed with reducing and eliminating sounds from our daily lives, and as such we have inadvertently reduced our capability to listen, hear and perceive sounds, while quite consciously and continuously privileging the visual realm. The material vibration in a building creates an event potential that has serious public implications. Sound is a powerful means of transmitting information, sound as informative. Vibrations can be felt while being unseen and unheard, thereby providing a structural potential of vibration through vibroacoustics. Vibroacoustics also play a significant role in health management, specifically in individuals with cerebral palsy, in terms of pain relief and alleviation from spasticity and psychological benefits. Perhaps this has greater socio-cultural implications as a source of stress relief/management in today’s high-stress culture.

The artistic implication will stem from the sonic ornamentation of the space. “There is something so fundamental about sound, that is evades you as you approach it.” In this case it is exposed to articulate the phenomenon of the sound of the vibration. Sound is something on the edge of existence, subtle. Through the haptic artistic act, the tensile structure, like a network or web of wires, will operate like a layer over that space. The web therefore becomes parasitic and autopoetic operating on its own terms. The vibration of structure around you, allows the sound to reveal itself. Sound ties a person to a room through the interconnectivity between the person and the space, allowing an experiential dialogue that allows us to experience ourselves in the sound of the space. The subtleness of the experience, its ‘barely-thereness’ heightens our acoustical awareness, becoming almost meditative. The whole body becomes covered in ears (R. Murray Schaefer), awakening every cell to listen.