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
