This Environmental Sound
Installation, The Isle is Full of Noises, was based off of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. The Multimedia Century
class was held at EMPAC on November 29th, 2018 to view this
spectacular event. “The work employs Wave Field Synthesis speaker arrays to
spatialize an 8 channel sound composition.” The main characters of The Tempest, Caliban and Miranda, are
foregrounded against the auditory backdrop of an imaginary tropical island. From
the first moment I walked in the studio room, I closed my eyes, and was immediately
mentally transported to some sort of tropical resort.
The
installation, composed by Professor Michael Century, contained a large variety of
sounds, ranging from poetic text, phonemic particles of language, birds,
animals, and environmental sounds. The overlapping of these unique sounds, is
what made the performance, in my opinion. I particularly appreciated when
Professor Century provided the students with a clear understanding of the different
channels of sounds. He demonstrated the
removal of one source (sound) after another, so one could understand, but more
importantly, hear, what each individual noise sounded like. When all put
together, they did not necessarily form a harmony of any kind. However, as I
closed my eyes, the blend of all the noises was powerful enough to transport my
mind to a tropical location. This was the main purpose anyways.
The next
distinctive aspect of this instillation was the eight spotlights hung from the
ceiling, which overcasted eight unique spots in the studio. From these spots,
the sounds of the installation appeared to be much more distinctive. I quite
honestly appreciated listening to the compilation of sounds from these
illuminated spots. At first, I did not even know what they represented, but
still found myself gravitating towards them because of this unexplainable
sensation I would get whenever I passed over one. It was almost as if I could
feel that something was different, or more prominent in those lighted up
locations.
In the
future, something that could have been included to strengthen the overall
impact of the event would be a visual aspect. This would have tied one’s
auditory senses with their visual senses, allowing someone to fully become
engulfed, so to speak, in this imaginary tropical island.
All in all, I did thoroughly enjoy
the event, and wished I could have attend longer, specifically to re-listen to
the entire routine. Something I was really fascinated by was how this EMPAC
Event was run by a professor here at Rensselaer. Most of the EMPAC Events, especially
this semester (Fall 2018) seemed to draw outside composers and artists, whereas
The Isle is Full of Noises, was
entirely created and run by Professor Michael Century with the assistance of a Ph.D.
and former-MFA students.
I, in hindsight, also really wish I could have attended longer/outside of a class setting. I distinctly remember just being a bit antsy overall when we were there (I don't remember why; perhaps it was just a rough day).
ReplyDeleteHave you seen The Tempest? As someone who hasn't, the references are mostly lost on me; I know that Professor Century explained them briefly, but that's not the same as really being able to make connections to the source material on account of having seen it. I assume you would have referenced it if you did, but then again, I wouldn't really know; the 500-750 word limits are a bit limiting.
On the topic of the lacking visuals: besides the spotlights, I'd say that there actually was a visual aspect: the computer screens that projected the controls. I do get what you mean, though; visuals that were tied more closely to the sound, or that better-evoked the sound, would have been nice, just to add to the borderline-hypnotic effect of the installation. I suppose that it's possible the control display wasn't actually meant to be a part of the installation though... so maybe it's just me and my experience.