staircase

2008
staircaise – permanent reactive sound installation for a public building

>staircase-website

staircase is a sound installation inscribed into the atrium and the stairways of a three story building located on the campus Inffeldgasse of the Graz University of Technology. This well frequented building hosts institutes of the Graz University of Technology and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz along with library spaces, teaching rooms, student learning spaces and a cafeteria.

staircase is a site-specific intervention reflecting the transitional nature of the space it augments auditorily. Conceived as a permanent installation, it has been carefully embedded into the existing acoustic ecology of the space it inhabits. Operating in its own sound niche, it slightly colours the everyday experience of the people frequenting the building. In its sonic and visual appearance it is intended to be perceived as an integral part of the building, contributing to its identity and atmosphere. In order to adapt to the current acoustic situation, which depends on the number and behaviour of the people frequenting the building, the installation tracks the patterns of acoustic activity with a phonmeter. An adaptive generative process informed by these activity patterns creates and projects carefully shaped sound events and gestures responding to the current situation as well as taking into account its development through the recent past.

A cooperation of Martin Rumori, David Pirrò, Gerriet K. Sharma, Christos Zachos und Gerhard Eckel in Graz.

 

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