Geo,
I was there last week too, but i was disappointed with the piece. But
then maybe I am super-critical...
I thought that the recordings of the movement of people through the
woods (soundfield mic??) worked very well
but that the other things sounded "panned" - as if they were emerging
straight from a speaker (or a virtual speaker
maybe). There were obvious discrepancies between perceived distances
- for me all the voices came from the
speakers, never outside or inside, whereas some of the ambient
recordings seemed to come from different distances.
The 'plane flying overhead worked well, but when all the explosions
went off (sorry if i'm spoiling this for people who are going!)
it sounded just like I was in a cinema listening to dolby - in fact,
as if I was sitting inside, not outside! very strange.
Anyway different people hear different things of course, and most of
the people seemed to be very impressed, though I
heard quite a lot of criticism too about the piece itself.
And Paert is of course beautiful but for me, in this context it's a
bit of a cheap trick!
best, Justin.
From: Geo Reisinger <g...@emnt.com>
Subject: [Sursound] Ambisonics at Documenta Kassel
To: sursound@music.vt.edu
Message-ID: <f06a5ae0-bbea-4660-9dbc-f800be8c9...@emnt.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hi all,
I had the pleasure of visiting Documenta Friday and Saturday.
Yesterday especially the weather was unusually glorious for this
year, and I took the opportunity to visit Janet Cardiff and George
Bures Miller's instalation in the park in the valley that is below
the City.
The work is beautifully installed - the young slender beech trees
make an ideal grid of possible speaker stands for optimal
geometrical configuration, it seems. I didn't count, but it was two
rings of probably eight speakers, one set directly on the ground,
getting muddy and all, and another one up about six meters. Plus a
sub or two. You enter into the undergrowth, very boy-scoutish and
enjoyable, and sit on logs.
The audio takes you through idyllic bits that seem like they were
recorded on the spot to war scenes and back, ending in a choral
piece by Arvo Paert. The sound quality and the spatiality are
astounding - the audience seemed to think so too, everyone there
was dead-quiet and listening, the sounds seemingly moving through
the group and around it.
All in all a great proof of ambisonic's power of dissociating the
sounds from the speakers and immersing the listener completely,
creating some sort of intangible magic along the way. I've actually
heard Motet, the work Justin Bennet referenced a while ago, at the
Venice Biennale two years ago, and while I enjoyed it, and while it
was very popular there as well, it had nowhere near an impact as
the Kassel piece. Highly recomended!
Best,
/Geo
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Sursound mailing list
Sursound@music.vt.edu
https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
End of Sursound Digest, Vol 49, Issue 8
***************************************
_______________________________________________
Sursound mailing list
Sursound@music.vt.edu
https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
