Installation: Muss Mann Erleben

 

 

At first glance they resemble rather oversized plexiglass lamps. Only when standing directly below such a ‘lamp’, does it reveal its auditory secrets. As a listener one is submerged in a sound-bath of ‘musical eruptions’.

 

The sound installation entitled SoundSpots was developed in 2007 by composers Rob van Rijswijk and Jeroen Strijbos. As a sound-oriented projection SoundSpots is a technical innovation. The installation consists of eight traditional and eight so-called parabolic speakers, encased in half-moon bowls of plexiglass. A SoundSpots’ characteristics are comparable to those of a beam of light. The sonic radius is limited to one square metre, while the sonic intensity is similar to the power of a strong beam of light. Sound being demarcated in this way, along with the specific arrangement of the SoundSpots in a threedimensional environment, enables visitors to go from soundscape to sounds-

cape without hindrance from other sound sources.

 

Once below a SoundSpot the listener undergoes an intense experience. As the sounds from the traditional speakers mix with those from the parabolic speakers, this creates a polyphonic-sounding pattern. There is also an interactive

dimension. You can influence the sound patterns by plotting your own auditive route below the respective SoundSpots.  

 

The Dutch premiere of SoundSpots, a commissioned composition at the November Music festival, took place at the Stedelijk Museum in Den Bosch in 2007.

 

 

Although SoundSpots is an autonomous installation, Van Rijswijk and Strijbos add new themes especially for the specific location and/or context - always in close cooperation with directors, choreographers, visual artists and

others. In the installation 'Muss Mann Erleben' a SoundSpot is placed in a custom-designed constellation by visual artist Paul van Rijswijk. This installation houses some audible and physical secrets.

 

In August 2008, Van Rijswijk and Strijbos also went to Belfast at the invitation of the ICMC2008 - International Computer Music Conference. SoundSpots and other compositions by Van Van Rijswijk and Strijbos will also be shown and performed in Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Marseilles, Zurich, Oslo, Rome, Florence, Beijing and Shanghai.