Microphonics

BACKGROUND Microphonics is an experimental series of sound recordings of the 'natural' soundscape of the Art Gallery of South Australia. The 'captured' sounds were recorded and then rearticulated throughout the building and its environs to enhance and explore the perceptual awareness of place. CONTRIBUTION The project extends the stochastic theory of composer and architect Iannis Xenakis, which recognises that natural events can only ever be randomly determined, to explore the residual noise of the built environment to articulate the full morphological development of sound spectra over time and space. A public building, such as this art gallery, is often characterised by diffuse acoustics generated by large spaces, compacted materials and hard surfaces, underscored by the latent emissions of industrial infrastructure of air ventilation, fluorescent lighting and plumbing systems. The recordings variously heighten our awareness of silence and our consciousness of aural disruption. SIGNIFICANCE Because of their protean and nebulous nature, complex environments are usually received with ambivalence, yet their soundscapes and spaces define our everyday experience.The recordings - by strategically and creatively disrupting the natural ambience of the gallery - highlight the pervasive and mutable nature of sound through methods of association, displacement and activation. Innovatively, the project arouses active and passive audience attention through the interplay of the natural and constructed environments to demonstrate the manner in which site, sound and space converge to define our experience and memory of place in time. In highlighting new acoustic possibilities the research ushers in a challenging realm for exploration and practical application using diverse spaces and soundscapes within varied time frameworks. This has cross-disciplinary implications for sound engineers,architects,composers and performing musicians.Funding from Arts Victoria assisted this project.