Online Archive

kickstart THE ARCHIVE! campaign 2010

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:17:23 -0400

Dear Friends of Maryanne,

We need your help! Over the past year we have made significant progress on the archive and moved to create a not-for profit organization, Additional Tones LTD that will be the long-term structure for Maryanne’s legacy. We’ve also made finding aids (partial indexing) of 75 boxes, imaged 5000 documents, cataloged 450 audio tapes, begun transferring audio to hard disk, recursively backed up all of Maryanne’s computer data, and supported a number of public MA events and research projects. This has been a volunteer effort, using equipment we’ve donated ourselves, but the project is too ambitious and important to sustain in this way. The costs of just housing the archive are ~$500/month, well beyond our means.

At this time we ask for your financial support. Through our official fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization in the USA you can donate online using a credit card here: https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/111 . We are still waiting on the official declaration of our own organization’s tax-free status and so in the interim we can accept donations through this channel.

Your funds will go 100% to supporting the preservation of Maryanne Amacher’s legacy. We are a tiny operation where a small amount of money can go a long way, and we are hoping that with some basic financial backing the project can race ahead in the next 12 months.

Below is the mission statement for Additional Tones which describes the philosophy behind this project and our long-term goals. Please join us!

To donate: https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/111

To setup a time to talk about the project by phone/skype/email: archive@maryanneamacher.org.

Micah & Robert

MISSION OF ADDITIONAL TONES LTD
1. To preserve and protect the work and research of Maryanne Amacher. This entails: A. Locating, securing, cataloging and transferring to more stable and accessible analog and digital formats her creative materials, works and intellectual property - namely her writings, compositions, correspondence in all formats, performance/installation notes, artwork, treatments, scores, media (audio, video, photographic, and digital), Internet queries, or any other forms or expressions of hers discovered through the ongoing process of establishing her archive. B. Inventorying, registering, and clarifying the copyrights on her creative materials and works. C. Archiving her works and investigations in a way that is dynamic, interactive and accessible to artistic and research communities at large - the aim being to create a “living” archive that takes full advantage of current technologies, tools and techniques. As of 2010, this means using the Internet and the latest in database, and content management software to create an adaptable archive that can be accessed, augmented and updated by contributors and researchers, and (in a more limited, moderated way) the general web public. With care and discretion with regards to privacy and copyright issues- the spirit of this project is to be as open and sharing of information as possible.  2. To serve as an educational and creative resource for artists, musicians, scholars, researchers wishing to understand Maryanne's works, ideas, questions, and vision. 
3. To ensure her creative legacy is a living one. A. First and foremost, and using great care and judgment towards her artistic concerns and vision – to determine which, if any, of her creative works and investigations can still be presented, encourage and promote their presentation, and support their realization with primary source documentation and performance materials. B. To promote the following: i. New works by contemporary artists and musicians which build on or address Maryanne's interests in psychoacoustics, perception, structure-borne sound, sound spatialization, telepresence, new creative intelligences, and other interests as discovered through the establishing of her archive. ii. Research into psychoacoustics, perception, structure born sound, sound spatialization, telepresence, new creative intelligences, and other interests as discovered through the establishing of her archive. iii. New archive projects, and the development of generalized templates and models for these projects based on experience gained from creating and maintaining Maryanne's “living” archive described above. This is to encourage a critical perspective on her archive's progress, and to solve a problem she saw in the “static” nature of many archives, which are difficult and often expensive for even dedicated researchers to access.

Fall newsletter - archived here

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:37:43 -0400

Below is text from the bulletin sent out on 9/22/10 to the subscribers to the Archive email list:
It's been nearly a year since Maryanne passed and we'd like to reconnect and update everyone on the progress we've made with the archive and also to point you to some coming MA-related events.

As of last month we've setup an archive office in Kingston, NY where Maryanne lived since 1983. The new space is in the same storage facility we've been using since last year and there is power, a secure door to the outside, ample light, etc. It's a completely functional office for the archive and we're really lucky to have it. We can ditch the old unit at the end of this month once everything is moved out.

We've setup some tables, Robert's copy stand, photo lights, etc. Housed there is an enormous amount of materials that she requested be rescued from her house before her death. These materials are what constitute her archive at the moment, though we are also reaching out to her friends asking for more information on various aspects of her life and work, this correspondence and materials sent to us will also be included, of course.

In the 200 or so boxes rescued from her studio before her passing is a vastness of written material, about 1/3 of it already meticulously organized by Maryanne. As materials were packed up at her home, the locations of all items were photographed and connected to a number on every box. This photographic record makes it possible to reconstruct how the materials were used, where in the house they existed, their condition at the time of packing — any future researcher will be able to gather a sense of her studio, her home, and how she used the materials being studied.

We've already indexed (not digitized completely, just created general finding aids) seventy-five boxes that seemed to contain the most organized material, the stuff that it seemed Maryanne had already identified as very important. Indeed, we've discovered an absolute treasure in these boxes, and already we've learned an incredible amount about her work that we had not known and was not available. From this sample, we're utterly convinced that Maryanne's archive will greatly clarify her legacy and make very clear how important an artist and thinker she was, keeping her inspirational spark alive. While there are many more boxes to go, I think we have already a good overview, or at least a decent sample.

Two curators from Germany representing Ludlow38 gallery (Axel Wieder and Tobi Maier) were with us for three of the days in preparation for a show on the City Links series that will be at their Chinatown (NYC) space from 10/22 to the end of December.

As part of their visit we inventoried all of the DAT tapes found and I now have all of them, along with all her performance-use CDs in Boston to transfer to hard disk. There are ~450 DATS and 250 CDs, though some still may turn up in random boxes we have yet to open. The good news is that it seems she long ago dubbed much of the material that originates as analog tape, though it's yet to be correlated in a deep way.

Also we generated 5000 (!) images of documents, slides, and photographs. These include a works list (from '67 - 88) and also some original scores from the late 60s and a ton of very detailed information on many many pieces. This number probably represents maybe 2% of the total imaging project, which is a bit daunting. We only imaged things that were somehow related to City Links..

We have in motion the creation of a non-profit organization called Additional Tones LTD, a name Maryanne used for her own business activities early on. Our hope is to develop this organization into a stable structure that can ensure Maryanne's work is kept alive for perpetuity. At the moment, we are doing our best to keep the project rolling as all of this evolves, raise funds to cover the archive's expenses, and keep everything in motion.

Amacher Events on the Horizon:

EMPAC in Troy, NY on Sunday, October 3
http://empac.rpi.edu/events/2010/fall/filament/performances/amacher/

MIT in Cambridge, MA on October 22

http://web.mit.edu/arts/announcements/prs/2010/0813_act_amacher.html

Ludlow38 gallery in Manhattan, NYC, end of October through December (check website for more info in a couple weeks)
http://www.ludlow38.org/

Very Best,

Micah Silver and Robert The

notes on Petra (1991) variations for two pianos for iscm zurich

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:25:27 -0400

MARYANNE AMACHER - U.S.A. - PETRA - ISCM 1991 ZURICH

Educated in music, acoustics and computers, she is a composer, performer and multi-media artist. Her work is known for its originality and dramatic architectural staging of music and sound. It is represented through the three series of multi-media works have produced in the United States and Europe: the telecommunication series CITY LINKS #1-21 (1967-79); the architecturally staged MUSIC FOR SOUND JOINED ROOMS (1980-); and the recent MINI-SOUND SERIES (1985-), a dramatic musical form Amacher creates, distinguished by its use of architecture and serialized narrative. Her works include two major collaborative compositions with John Cage. For a year she has been a guest
composer in Berlin. Her installations have been shown in many countries.

Petra (1991) Variations for two pianos In December 1990 I visited the church of Boswil to experience the architecture, design, color, and light of late afternoon entering the space. I wanted the place of the music's first performance to enter the origins of my compositional thought. It was important to immerse imagination in the 'life' of the church, and to incorporate this perceptible knowledge mentally in imagining a musical world. In the short story 'Petra' by the American science fiction writer Greg Bear, the ancient stone statues of saints, gargoyles, and the figures within the stained glass windows of a cathedral take on multiple lives. Becoming creatures of energy, they move throughout the space, entering many levels of the cathedral. A world where stone and glass animations mett, interact and breed with the charcters of flesh. Two pianos sound to animate sound shapes in a space of activity. Inspired by the church's 'presence' - the clear forms and color, the deep ghostly altar windows - the sound shapes of PETRA become characters interacting within the virtual time of the church. M.A.

from ISCM 1991 Zurich

TEO! diagrams of sonic Spatial designs

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:07:53 -0400

2021 The Life people: a four part mini-sound series for ars electronica linz (german)

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:58:37 -0400

2021 The Life People Maryanne Amacher
A FOUR PART MINI-SOUND SERIES FOR Ars Electronica, LINZ Hintergrundanmerkung

Telekommunikation und die "Hörer-Musik"

Zwei Richtungen in meiner Arbeit

Der Einsatz von Telekommunikationstechnologie ist seit 1967 ein wichtiger Aspekt in meinem Werk. Insgesamt habe ich 21 Werke in der Telekommunikationsserie geschaffen: "City-Links". Ich produziere City-Links mit Klängen aus der Umwelt-Atmosphäre und mit Live-Musikern – auf verschiedene Plätze der Stadt verteilt, oder auf Städte und Länder –, deren Musik live übertragen und zu Konzerten, Sendungen, Ausstellungen und zu Forschungszwecken gemischt wird.

Mit Telekommunikation schaffe ich spezialisierte akustische Situationen bei Performances, Installationen und bei längeren Perioden einer Studiotätigkeit, die allesamt anders nicht realisiert werden könnten. In der Mini- Sound-Serie für Ars Electronica 89 werde ich diesen wichtigen Teil meiner Arbeit erstmalig mit einem anderen kombinieren – den sogenannten "psychoakustischen Phänomenen". Meine neuere musikalische Arbeit und Forschung konzentriert sich auf die Erforschung unserer perzeptiven Antworten auf die Musik – die Töne und die Melodiemuster, die innerhalb unseres Körpers und unseres Nervensystems geformt werden –, die "Klangwelt", die der Zuhörer bei der Präsenz von Musik selbst erzeugt.

Durch die Kombination dieser beiden Aspekte meiner Arbeit werde ich die Telekommunikations-Verbindungen auf eine wesentlich verfeinerte Art benutzen, nicht nur als reine Mittel der Übertragung und des Empfangens von Klanginformation und zur Vereinfachung der Interaktion zwischen weit auseinanderliegenden Orten. Ich werde programmierbare Telekommunikations-Technologien einsetzen, um direkt mit den PERZEPTIVEN REAKTIONEN DES ZUHÖRERS AUF DIE MUSIK zu interagieren, zusätzlich zu der zwischen den dislozierten Orten ausgetauschten Musikinformation.

Mein Ziel ist die Erzeugung progammierbarer Szenarien, die dramatisch die Aufmerksamkeit auf unsere Sensitivität und Perzeption lenken, wenn wir auf Musik reagieren, damit die vielen Dimensionen dieser "Klangwelt" sichtbar werden. Mit meiner Musik möchte ich bewußte Erfahrung der "Musik des Hörers" hervorrufen, wie sie bisher nur subliminell erfahrbar war und über Jahre hinweg unterdrückt wurde. Mit der digitalen Instrumentation der Gegenwart sind solche Versuche bei der musikalischen Komposition heute wesentlich leichter durchzuführen.

Ohren als Instrumente
Der Geist gibt Form

Als Resonanz auf die Musik agieren unsere Ohren als Musikinstrumente, sie "spielen ihre eigenen Töne" zusätzlich zu den vorhandenen Instrumenten, als würde ein neues Instrument zur Band dazustoßen. Die Neuro- Anatomie reagiert und schafft Raum für subtilste Spuren akustischer Information. Wir "hören" andere als die vorgegebenen Töne, wie sie im Inneren unserer Ohren Form annehmen, indem das Trommelfell als Reaktion auf vorgegebene akustische Töne zu vibrieren beginnt.

Mir gefällt der Gedanke, daß der Zuhörer auf bestimmte BESONDERS EMPFINDLICHE RESONANZINSTRUMENTE innerhalb der anatomischen Struktur des Innenohres reagiert. In Wahrheit horchen wir auf das, was unser Gehörsystem DANK SEINER FÄHIGKEIT AUF SUBTILSTE VERÄNDERUNGEN IN DER FORM DES SCHWINGUNGSMUSTERS ZU REAGIEREN vernimmt, wenn es auf die akustischen Töne anspricht. Wir "hören" die Codierung als Antwort einer ENTWICKELTEN SENSITIVITÄT, die Informationen aus Details der Vibrationsmuster extrahiert (so entsteht die subjektive Tonhöhe).

Interaktives Telekommunikationskonzept
für die Mini-Sound-Serie "INTELLIGENZ ZWEITER ORDNUNG" für interaktive Szenarien und Telekommunikationssysteme

Das interaktive System TeleLink, das für die Mini-Sound-Serie konzipiert wurde, hat außer den bekannten Übertragungs-, Steuerungs- und Austauschfunktionen akustischer und musikalischer Informationen zwischen dislozierten Punkten noch andere Funktionen. Es läßt einen Zugriff auf eine "Geographie der Perzeption" zu. Im
Zusammenhang mit den interaktiven Telekommunikationsszenarios repräsentiert die Mini-Sound-Serie ein wichtiges Konzept.

Mit der heutigen programmierbaren Technologie können Szenarien erzeugt werden, die auf UNSERE SENSITIVITÄT UND PERZEPTION IN REAKTION AUF MUSIK ansprechen. Zusätzlich zur Interaktion mit voneinander räumlich getrennten Musikern können telemetrische Situationen so konzipiert werden, daß sie mit der subtileren Information interagieren, die in unserem Nervensystem produziert wird. Interaktive digitale Systeme in der Mini-Sound-Serie können programmiert werden, damit sie auf PERZEPTUELLE INFORMATION reagieren, sie verstärken und mit ihr kommunizieren. Die Mini-Sound-Serie kann den Sitz ihrer "Intelligenz" in New York haben, die mit der PERZEPTUELLEN REAKTION DER ZUHÖRER (im Brucknerhaus) interagiert. Diese Intelligenz wird jene "KLANGWELTEN" erkennen, beantworten und verstärken, die der Hörer in sich selbst als Reaktion auf die Musik im Stiftersaal erzeugt.

Das spezielle Konzept, das durch dieses Werk ausgedrückt wird (besonders im Zusammenhang mit den heutigen programmierbaren Telekommunikationstechnologien), besagt, daß die "Intelligenz" (in New York) PRIMÄR AN DEN REAKTIONEN DER BESUCHER (im Brucknerhaus) orientiert ist. Sie interagiert mit der zwischen verschiedenen Plätzen ausgetauschten Musik speziell, um die VOM ZUHÖRER GESCHAFFENE KLANGWELT im Brucknerhaus zu verstärken.

Dieses Konzept unterscheidet sich von anderen Ansätzen zur Intelligenz in interaktiven Musikszenarien und Telekommunikationsnetzwerken. In diesen Systemen interagiert die Systemintelligenz mit akustischen Informationen, die gesendet und empfangen werden, und erleichtert den Austausch und die Komposition musikalischer Ideen und Erfahrungen zwischen verschiedenen Orten. Sie konzentriert sich auf Rhythmus, Melodiestrukturen, Klangfarben und musikalische Stile, die verändert, ausgetauscht und in neue Kontexte eingebaut werden. So spielt beispielsweise das Programm des A die Instrumente des B, die Posaune des B die Violine des A, As rhythmische Muster verformen Bs Musik und/oder Bilder; Bs Instrumente interagieren mit spezifischen melodischen Charakteristiken in der Musik des A (ich nenne das "Intelligenz erster Ordnung").

In der Mini-Sound-Serie interagiert die "Intelligenz" mit UNSERER SENSITIVITÄT UND WAHRNEHMUNG IN REAKTION AUF MUSIK. (Ich nenne das "Intelligenz zweiter Ordnung".) Die Intelligenz findet Zutritt zu einer "Geographie der Perzeption", indem sie mit der akustischen Information im Raum interagiert (diese kommt teilweise aus dem Stiftersaal, teilweise aus New York); ebenso aber mit der perzeptuellen Information, die im Inneren des Zuhörers geformt wird (Klangempfindungen und Mustermodulationen, die der Zuhörer als Reaktion auf die Musik erzeugt – ich nenne das die "Musik des Zuhörers"). Interaktive Szenarien für die Mini-Sound- Serie werden im Feld der vier akustischen Dimensionen und der "Zuhörermusik" entwickelt.

Die Systemintelligenz ist so ausgelegt, daß der eingehende Live-Sound aus dem Computer in New York Frequenzen aufweisen wird, die jene "unserer Ohren" im Stiftersaal ergänzen. Das von mir entwickelte Programm decodiert meine Musik im Stiftersaal, die von Reeve und mir interaktiv über eine Verbindung erzeugte Musik, die Live-Musik und die Umweltgeräusche des NEW YORK GLOBAL UNDERGROUND, und antwortet darauf durch die Erzeugung neuer Töne und Melodieformen, die mit der perzeptuellen Klangwelt des Zuhörers interagieren. Der Klang, den ich von dieser Verbindungsleitung erhalte, wird die Erfahrung dieser respondierenden Töne verstärken, die normalerweise nur subliminell registriert werden. Das ENHANCER PROGRAMM (in New York) ist speziell konstruiert, um die ERFAHRUNG UNSERER OHREN ALS INSTRUMENTE, DIE IHRE MUSIK SPIELEN, ZU VERSTÄRKEN. Mit diesen Verstärkungen aus dem "Enhancer" erleben wir melodische Formen, als "lebten" diese im Inneren unserer Ohren.

Die Stars der Mini-Sound-Serie

Eine ferne Intelligenz in New York mit folgenden Agenten:
The Recognizer (der Erkenner)
The Enhancer (der Verstärker)
The Communicators (die Kommunikatoren)
The New York Global Music Underground.

Meine Aufführungsinstrumente im Stiftersaal sind mit einer "Intelligenz" in New York verbunden, die so ausgelegt ist, daß sie die im Saal gespielte Musik, die von Reeve und mir interaktiv über eine Verbindung erzeugte Musik, die Live-Musik und die Umweltgeräusche des NEW YORK GLOBAL UNDERGROUND decodiert und darauf in spezieller Weise mit der perzeptuellen Klangwelt des Zuhörers interagiert.

Die interaktive Telekommunikationsverbindung ist so aufgebaut, daß einlangender Computersound aus New York Frequenzen aufweist, die jene in "unseren Ohren" im Stiftersaal ergänzen. Das TeleLink nach New York wird als 1. Informationskanal zur Übertragung der Live-Musik der NEW YORK GLOBAL MUSIC UNDERGROUND (die ich in die Story der Mini-Sound-Serie einbauen werde) und 2. als Zugang zu einer "Intelligenz" in New York ausgelegt, die ihrerseits die Musik im Stiftersaal decodiert (auch die Musik und
Umweltgeräusche, die vom Times Square kommen) und mit der "Zuhörermusik" interagiert.
Die ferne "Intelligenz" hat drei führende "Agenten": den RECOGNIZER, den ENHANCER und die COMMUNICATORS.

Der RECOGNIZER (in New York) "lauscht" den Tönen der KLANGWELT, DIE INNERHALB "unserer Ohren" existiert (Brucknerhaus). Er decodiert die akustische Information und identifiziert das SZENARIO DER TÖNE im Inneren der Zuhörerohren als Reaktion auf die im Stiftersaal gespielte Musik sowie die Musik und Umweltgeräusche vom NEW YORK GLOBAL MUSIC UNDERGROUND.

Der ENHANCER (in New York) reagiert mit Intervallkombinationen und Frequenzen, die speziell darauf abgestimmt sind, die ERFAHRUNGEN UNSERER OHREN ALS SELBSTÄNDIGE MUSIKINSTRUMENTE ZU VERSTÄRKEN. Der ENHANCER verstärkt unsere Erfahrungen dieser Reaktions-Töne auf die Musik, die normalerweise unter der Bewußtseinsschwelle registriert werden. Durch diese Verstärkungen aus dem ENHANCER erleben wir musikalische Formen wie "lebendig" innerhalb unserer Ohren.

Die COMMUNICATORS (in New York) produzieren andere Töne und melodische Kombinationen, die die Klangwelt des Zuhörers und die Musik im Raum ausschmücken und mit ihnen interagieren. Diese Kommunikatoren sind eine Kategorie von Tönen, die in Melodie, Rhythmus, Tonhöhe und Intervallbeziehungen speziell auf die Töne und Klangmuster abgestimmt sind, die in der "Zuhörermusik" erklingen. Ein taktiles Wechselspiel zwischen den Communicators, der "Zuhörermusik" und der Musik samt den Umweltgeräuschen im Saal wird kultiviert, ein sehr komplexer Vorgang. Die Communicators verknüpfen ihre Musik mit unseren Tonreaktionen, die normalerweise nur unterbewußt erlebt werden.

Zusammenfassung

Der RECOGNIZER entschlüsselt die akustische Information und identifiziert die "Zuhörermusik". Der ENHANCER verstärkt die Erfahrung unserer Ohren als Instrumente "mit eigener Musik" – Antworttöne und Melodieformen, die normalerweise subliminell registriert werden. Die COMMUNICATORS "sprechen", "berühren", kultivieren taktile Formen und Rhythmen, stellen eine Verbindung zwischen den Tönen im Raum und Tonerfahrungen im Zuhörer her. Mit melodischen Formen, Rhythmen und Tönen verzieren sie Formen, die in der "Musik im Zuhörer" widerklingen.

Music Theater

Die Story der Mini-Sound-Serie wird sich rund um zwei dramatisch verschiedene Klangwelten entwickeln: die eine innerhalb von uns – tiefe und tiefste Töne –, die in der Vergangenheit nur subliminell wahrgenommen wurde, die sogenannten "Zuhörermusik", und – als größter Gegensatz dazu – der TIMES SQUARE und GLOBAL MUSIC UNDERGROUND.

Anmerkung
Details über das Nervensystem

Ich möchte an dieser Stelle noch klarlegen, inwieweit das interaktive Konzept für die Mini-Sound-Serie von anderen Arten programmierbarer Szenarien im Zusammenhang mit den heutigen Telekommunikationssystemen differiert. Intelligenz wird nicht nur direkt auf die akustische Information angewendet, sondern auf das, was wir mit dieser Information bei der Wahrnehmung als menschlich Reagierende tun – "unser Hören und seine Ausformung in Ohr und Geist". Die Intelligenz wird über den Austausch und die Steuerung akustischer Information hinausgeleitet und richtet sich AUF DAS NETZWERK DES NERVENSYSTEMS – auf alles, was mit uns beim Vorliegen musikalischer Information geschieht, was wir mit dieser Information als biologische Rezipienten machen, auf die Töne und Melodieformen, die wir als Antwort auf diesen Input erzeugen.

citylinks #4 & #14 Description

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:53:56 -0400

Description of Work

"TONE AND PLACE (Work1) PIER 6 BOSTON HARBOR"
("CityLinks" #4 & #14)
TeleLink Sound Installation

A 5 year live Transmission of The Boston Harbor Sound Environment from a microphone overlooking the ocean at Pier 6.
(Nov1973 to Nov1978)

Live sound from THE BOSTON HARBOR was transmitted to Amacher's studio everyday for 2 1/2 years. An open 15kc telephone link to her studio (at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) provided continuous, live 24-hour-a-day transmission of the Harbor Sound Environment.

A new link from the PIER 6 MICROPHONE was made in May 1976, transmitting Amacher's live BOSTON HARBOR SOUND INSTALLATION to loudspeakers at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (May1976 to Nov1978).

####### ####################################################

here's another version that was not published

"TONE AND PLACE (Work1) PIER 6 BOSTON HARBOR"
("CityLinks" #4 & #14)

A 5 year Telelink installation, transmitting TTHE LIVE BOSTON HARBOR SOUND ENVIRONMENT -- RECEIVED BY A MICROPHONE OVERLOOKING THE OCEAN AT PIER 6 -- to Amacher's studio, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.(Nov 1973 May1976; and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT (May 1976 Nov1978).

##################################################################

Photo Captions

ma_3 and ma_2.
MICROPHONE INSTALLATION overlooking the ocean at the New England Fish Exchange, Pier 6 Boston Harbor. Photos show details of camouflage for microphone in opening at top of window (under insulation covering) at the New England Fish Exchange.

Photo ma_3 from the first months (March 1974)
Photo ma_2 from the second year (Sept 1975)

ma_1
ROOM -- WITH MICROPHONE INSTALLATION AND 15kc TELEPHONE LINK-- AT NEW ENGLAND FISH EXCHANGE, BOSTON HARBOR.
Photo shows installation in room, overlooking the ocean at Pier 6 that remained for five years, transmitting the live BOSTON HARBOR SOUND ENVIRONMENT. This photo from the second year (1975).

... microphone in opening at top of window (under insulation covering).
... pre amp and power supply for microphone on the floor, under plastic, carboard and paper covers.

...15kc telephone link to Amacher's studio at MIT (Nov1973 to May1976); and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory MIT May1976 to Nov1978.

or as published
From the second year: microphone in opening at top of window (under insulation covering); preamp and power supply for microphone on the floor, under plastic, cardboard and paper covers; 15kc telephone link to Amacher's studio at MIT (Nov1973 to May 1976); and the Artificial Ingtelligence Laboratory, MIT (May1976 to Nov1978).

E A R Magazine cover 1989

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:49:17 -0400

Marvin minsky on maryanne

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:24:42 -0400

Marvin Lee Minsky (born August 9, 1927) is an American cognitive scientist in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), co-founder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AI laboratory, and author of several texts on AI and philosophy.

MARYANNE AMACHER
by Marvin Minsky

In her earlier work, Maryanne Amacher explored the worlds of different forms of sounds in space. The scientific psychologists had also tried to study sounds, but never with very much success. And for good reason: in the real universe, there are far too many possible combinations of patterns, Only an artist of Amacher's stature could decide which questions should be asked and her answers have become a part of the history of modern art. Many of her pioneering concepts about spatial sound models and perceptual interactions evolved into the sorts of acoustic installations that are becoming popular today.

But Amacher was never satisfied only with sound and, in the 1980's she began to turn toward more ambitious images of immersions in rooms of sound and sight. I see her work as exploring a number of important issues an the boundaries of contemporary perceptual psychology, exploring the ways that subtle environmental changes affect how we see the world from moment to moment. Amacher's work is very concerned with what happens after you see and hear: the after images and after sounds. In fact. although she works in several media, her main concern is with understanding and manipulating the perception of space and duration, with finding ways to make people feel that they are in a different (and usually more desirable) place. As she uncovers these influences she translates them through her art into ways to use the media to make changes in the local world of the watcher/listener. It seems clear that this sort of environment oriented sculpture will become a vital part of the architecture of our living places, if apparent trends continue. To be specific, I will describe a few ways in which this work seems to me important and unusual.

Subjective Transportation. By transmitting sounds from remote locations, one can begin to produce the effect that one is no longer at home, but in another city, in a storm, in some very different place. This is obvious, on the surface, but there is much more to it; the displacements depend a lot on acoustic techniques that can dominate the local background noises in subtle ways not by drowning them out. Amacher has become a master of controlling sounds that are comparatively "faint" yet produce new senses of location and orientation.

Spatial Sound Sculpture. By combining and modulating several remote sources, she can create new environments, exploiting other new effects. Much of art involves attempts at superimposing different structures, but Amacher's work shows that one can do far more with overlays of sound than anyone would have expected. The room becomes new kinds of places, some unlike any past experiences.

Localizations and Difference – Beats. It is possible to create effects like these from the two inch speaker of a television receiver? Workers in psychoacoustics have long known that there are certain non linear effects of certain higher frequency sounds that produce subjective localizations of their sources in surprising places, near or apparently inside the listener's head, for example. It seems very likely that some of the secrets of classical and modern orchestration effects depend on these sometimes subliminal influences which, in her art, Amacher attempts to isolate and then combine again into new structures and textures.

I have the impressions that Amacher has discovered other such effects that are not yet understood by the psychoacoustic community, as a result of her extraordinary care and persistence. Now she wants to
pursue her new ideas in a series of pieces, each a room of more complete experience. There are all too few individuals that possess her power, persistence, courage, intelligence, and sensitivity but the stages she builds will enable the rest of us to experience these same qualities.

February 3, 1988

misc Performance photos

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:22:52 -0400

music for sound joined rooms

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:18:48 -0400

Installations of "MUSIC FOR SOUND-JOINED ROOMS" (1980-2002 ) include works created for the Serralves Museum, Casa de Serralves, Porto, Portugal; Cornerhouse Gallery Manchester, Eng; Galerie Nachst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria; the Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland; Oggi Music Festival, Lugano, Switzerland; Cultural Commune di Roma, Italy; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; Kunstmuseum, Bern; DAAD Gallery, Berlin; Capp Street Project, San Francisco; 2lst Century Cultural Information Museum, Tokushima, Japan; Kunsthalle-Krems, Austria; Taktlos Festival, Bern; Dance Theater Building, Avery Center for the Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on Hudson.

In "MUSIC FOR SOUND JOINED ROOMS" and "MINI-SOUND SERIES" I use the architectural features of a building to customize sound, visual, and spatial elements, creating intense and dramatic sound experiences. I produce these works in location-based installations that are built from "structure borne" sound (sound traveling through walls, floors, rooms, corridors) which acousticians distinguish from the "airborne" sound experienced with conventional loudspeaker placements. An entire building or series of rooms provides a stage for the sonic and visual sets of my installations. Immersive aural architectures are constructed, linking the main audience space sonically with adjoining rooms through specially designed multiple loudspeaker configurations, creating the effect that sounds originate from specific locations and heights rather than from the loudspeakers. The idea is to create an atmosphere similar to the drama of entering a cinematic closeup, a form of "sonic theater" in which architecture magnifies the expressive dimensions of the work.

The audience enters the set and walks into the "world" of the story, exploring multi-perceptual viewpoints. As they move through new scenes being created by the "Sound Characters," they discover clues to the story distributed throughout the rooms. Places of "thematic focus" are selected to create the scenes - rooms, corridors, walls, doorways, balconies, stairways. In some episodes sound sweeps through the rooms; in others, chords, and tonalities are intricately joined between the rooms; in still others a particular sound shape is emphasized to animate sonic imaging in a distant room. Together with the architectural staging of projected visual environments, I am able to construct multi-dimensional environment-oriented experiences, anticipating virtual immersion environments. Rooms, walls, and corridors that sing. Architecture especially articulates sonic imaging in "structure borne" sound, magnifying color and spatial presence as the sound shapes interact with the structural characteristics of the rooms before reaching the listener. The rooms themselves become speakers, producing sound which is felt throughout the body as well as heard.

"Music For Sound Joined Rooms" was produced in two especially remarkable architectures, having unique acoustical characteristics: the Kunsthalle-Krems in Austria (1995;) and the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima Japan (1992.) I created distinct sonic worlds that could only be articulated through architecture. The Kunsthalle-Krems Minioritenkirche is a large expansive space that was originally part of a monastery that was built in the 11th century. I produced my work, "A Step Into It, Imagining 1001 Years" in the six areas of the Kunsthalle: the main hall; the altar spaces (one at a high elevation approached by a tall stairway;) the two antechambers adjoining the high altar; and the crypt. A space of expanded seeing and hearing enfolded throughout the Church, linking sonic interactions and visual imaging in six thematic locations. Aural events appeared larger than life; as though many miles away; inside the listener. For "Synaptic Island" which I produced at the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima, I created very discrete placements of sound, emphasizing distinct characteristics in four adjoining rooms. Special layering of sonic imaging was developed; areas of intense sonic pressure; others very ethereal. Staged at specific locations and heights, these sonic areas becametactile in presence, existing as "things in themselves." (See attached: floor plans illustrating the architectural distribution of sound for these works.)

To produce the location-based installations for my major works, intensive acoustic and auditory research in the space is required. Usually a residency of one month is needed for my investigations, depending on the size of the space and the number of rooms. During this period I discover special acoustic features of each room, exploring how they interact sonically with each other, and develop the aural imaging and spatial characteristics of the installation. Creating the detailed sound design is very much like scripting a sonic choreography.

Pictures of gravity (berlin)

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:53:12 -0400

MA interview passages from sound generation

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:42:09 -0400

Maryanne Amacher passages from Sound Generation, last revised July 6 2006
(NOTE: some passages from the December draft were eliminated in the February revisions, as per Maryanne’s request.)
Page numbers refer to April Manuscript.

P28:
Maryanne Amacher: I have a vision: If you imagine a world before music, you imagine that and you imagine these lonely, ancient beings there. Maybe they hear birds, or dinosaurs, but here is all of this neurochemistry inside, and all these young nerve cells at that time were very restless. They needed something to match them, biochemically, which is how receptors recognize shapes. Nothing existed to match them, and so maybe they started making up stories and voices in their minds, which somehow gave the receptors a whole way. So then it just develops, that’s what’s happening. I mean music is really a form formed of neurophonic exercise. (Remove music is formed) It’s difficult to say much more than that, because none of this has really been studied that much. Psychoacoustics, all the kind of responses we make to sounds, have been regarded in most music as something odd. There’s very little attention paid in music schools to the field of psychoacoustics or even to acoustics itself, to the study of actually what sound is in the whole spectrum, how you can go into the spectrum and get out its energy, and make all kinds of interactions so that it starts singing.

P32-34:
Maryanne Amacher: In my work, there are tones that our ears create in response to musical intervals or other tones being produced in the room, creating these sort of other spaces. You have the actual tones, the acoustic tones that are sounding in the room, and then you have the sounds that the ears are creating at the same time.

This is something is happening in all music, but when notation began, it seems people may have stopped paying attention to this aspect of experiencing music. I think when people say that a performance “brings out all these colors” of the tones, that’s because the performers know how to play to really enhance the response tones in human beings. I would like to realize this in a very conscious manner. I designed a program to research these effects, so that I could know that if I choose a certain interval, this low D# is appearing, and then I can examine how it’s appearing in my ears in many different situations, and then map it. To do this consciously becomes something very powerful and emotional, where ultimately you are standing as another being in the whole sonic dimension of music—and you’re participating in creating it—experiencing vividly what your ears are capable of.

What I was first talking about, that’s called the first orde effectsr in psychoacoustics, that’s the mechanical response that the ear creates (which also occur a few seconds after death. There’s been a good bit of study at Johns Hopkins University on that.) But the second order effects are the a neurological phenomena, which details the shaping. That’s why the various tuning systems, whether they’re tuned to the octave or the fifth, the stopping points there create these different shapes, which have also been shown in experiments, that we actually perceive. It’s the same operation that occurs with the missing fundamental in the music world. You know that you might not hear it as a tone but you definitely experience it.

P46:
Maryanne Amacher: I do installations. They involve architecture, and that really is very critical, because whether you do something loud or something soft, it takes on a whole different aspect in these places. It’s nothing like any music I’d ever make that you can ever experience from a CD at all. That’s something I think is very important. I think there will be buildings of sound, and people will have these experiences that will be totally liberating because it’s very, very different. There should be real buildings dedicated to artists and sound installations, because people can not have these experiences in their own home unless, maybe, if you have a huge mansion and you have an artist come in and design everything for you. Otherwise it is totally impossible no matter how many speakers you have. It’s not simply a question of multi-channels or spatialization. It’s really a whole matter of physics, it’s a matter of structure and sound, how sound relates and what happens in the structures that makes a transformative experience that doesn’t happen with the current loudspeakers we have.**

P65-8:
Maryanne Amacher: Yes, but I’ve not approached it scientifically at all, because already people in the field of architectural acoustics have tried to analyze these things and reproduce these wonderful halls and spaces, and there’s are still so many open questions. So all my work in this area is simply experiential. It is to go to these different spaces and as the one I showed you, one amazing place was the Kunsthalle Krems in France Austria
that I described using these six different areas. The series of works in this is called Music for Sound-Joined Rooms. (MUSIC FOR SOOUND JOINED ROOMS) is the name of this series of worksAnd it’s the connections of sound making links between different areas. I worked approximately a month learning (discovering) the acoustics in the various conditions of the place, learning it experientially, and knowing that I could put something in the crypt that you would hear in a certain way in this huge main hall. And what kind of connection did I want? To make a sweeping-through? Or did I want to make a harmonic connection? Or what? That building had a very different characteristic than the other floor plan I showed you from Takashima where you could make very direct, very tactile sounds above, and below you could go out to this totally magical place. I don’t know if it was because of the curve and the small passageway out to this amphitheater, but what appeared was so incredible. As I mentioned, when I went to visit I was walking there and I said, it was like I imagined beforehand the sound, and the engineer said "Oh we put a loud speaker here," and I said "No maybe we don’t even have to." And that’s the way it worked out. As you walked up this passageway you confronted what appeared to be a sonic hologram this hologram: like the sound seemed to grow, and get stronger, but it was because of the placement of the speakers that were not in that area, but outside. So that’s the a really interesting thing in my work -- to find situations like that.

A similar thing happened at the Casa Serralves at the Museum Serralves in Porto. It’s a spectacular house that was built in the forties, and it was used as a museum before the new Museum Serralves was built a few years ago. I went there to investigate it briefly, and happened to find some very strange places to put a loudspeaker. but i went there to investigate it briefly, and that also happened by finding some very strange place to put a loudspeaker so it conducted this whole, as you went up the steps in a different area it was completely as though you were walking into the sound but the speaker was way off in what used to be a pantry, or somewhere, but somehow it got conducted through the structure so this is what we’re looking for when we experience none of that with sound and air (needs work) As you went up the steps in a different area it was completely as though you were walking into the sound but the speaker was way off in what used to be a pantry. Somehow the sound was conducted through the structure.

So this is what we’re looking for when we experience none of that with sound and air. And as I mentioned the wavelength for middle c in air is four feet, four inches and when it’s traveling through stone or wood it’s anywhere from nineteen to twenty-two inches. And so that same actual physical wavelength, then, is much enhanced, so that if it’s very quiet, once it’s going through the structure there’s kind of a presence, the sound takes on a sense of presence, like a being. And when it’s very powerful people often say "Why can this music be so powerful and it doesn’t hurt my ears?" And it’s because, I don’t know, all I can say is that it’s traveled, it’s not trapped any longer if there’s room enough for the actual wave-shapes. And also in these spaces as I mentioned, people are very liberated. When there’s room people start dancing, jumping, it’s very liberating. Of course you’re not seated, that’s another very restricting thing that’s been part of the tradition, or you’re not at a club where you’re jammed against someone else. I have no way to understand why it’s so liberating, but it is just amazing.

Writing on: Living sound, patent pending

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:15:25 -0400

“I produced my first large scale multichannel installation/performance in the MUSIC FOR SOUND-JOINED ROOMS Series, Living Sound, Patent Pending (Traveling Musicians Being Prepared) for the Walker Arts Center, during the New Music America Festival, Minneapolis-St. Paul (June 7-14 1980). The music and visual sets were staged architecturally, throughout the nearly empty Victorian house of the conductor Dennis Russell Davies and filmaker, Molly Davies. The visual elements gave clues to a story discovered in the different rooms, and in the outside garden. The house, on a hill in St. Paul with its panoramic view of Minneapolis, was lit by tall quartz spots, as if a movie set. The time: midnight. Davies' music room, where two grand pianos had been, was now an "emergent music laboratory," where 21 petri dishes with "something" growing in them (the musicians and instruments of the future) were placed beside metal instrument cases marked Fragile: "traveling musicians being prepared" and "the molecular orchestra"; TV story boards refering to "symbiotic aids," biochemical companions tailored to enhance neurophonic recognition; "making new scores." DNA photos and biochemical diagrams were placed on music stands. Meanwhile, the entire house was full of sound, circulating throughout the rooms, out the doors and windows, down the hill, past sedate Victorian mansions. I was thrilled to discover that the law to patent life forms (the Diamond V. Chakrabarty decision) followed a few days later. As the possibilities of biocomputers and emerging media approach, perhaps this work was not as much fantasy as it may have seemed at the time.”

misc project images (need annotation)

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:40:55 -0400

Sound house: a mini sound series // Capp Street Project Poster

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:33:19 -0400

Composing perceptual geographies

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:32:42 -0400

Today media exist which begin to match the range and subtlety of our
perceptual modes. As a result of recent advances in multisensorial and
immersive technologies, new visual and aural experiences are being
explored, some unlike any past experiences, particularly those being
created for converging media and telepresence platforms.

As immersive technologies expand and grow to mirror the sensitivity of our
responsive energies, will sound art delve consciously into these expanded
sensitivites? Consider two basic examples resulting from advances in
digital audio technologies: dynamic range and spatial dimension. Much of
the music circulating the world is still based on the limited capacity of
the recording technology available for Lp records having a dynamic range of
40db, compared to digital's 120db. With today's "technologies of presence"
we are able to experience multidimensional immersive aural architectures in
which sonic imaging is perceived from many different spatial orientations,
in large public spaces, and in homes with emerging multispeaker systems.
Hardware is no longer the problem. (Although I really wish loudspeakers
could rise out of their mechancial souls!)

The real need is to explore new ways in which intelligent interfaces can be
created which respond, enhance, and communicate with sonic perceptual
information being processed by the listener, in addition to sonic
information produced acoustically. It is important to fully realize, that
with the experiential nature of current technologies we are able for the
first time to effectively distinguish between acoustic information and
perceptual information, and consciously create for these dimensions.

"CREATING PRESENCE," Part 1 of this session will address the mapping of
"perceptual geographies" for new media: exploring scenarios and
vocabularies for staging multidimensional sonic worlds, and possibilities
for individualizing sonic imaging for listeners and for spaces.

"Creating Presence" is in response to Drew's questions:
>Are spatial effects and distributed sound destined to remain the preserve
of isolated art installations, or might they have a place in the venue and
PA design of tomorrow?
> D.H. will explore the grey area between club and installation,
considering the extent to which innovations devised primarily for art
installations can work in a club context.

I believe that many of the spatial applications now used mainly in art
installations can have exciting larger lives in many different situations.
Perhaps one of the problems is that often the isolated art installation is
not created as a compelling, transformative experience! There may be a real
appreciable lack of "presence" in this world, so that people have little to
respond or interact with. Experience is abstract, synaptic modulations
totally weak!

And this certainly has much to do with how perceptual information is
presented. It is very hard to resist good compelling beats, perceptually.
They are on target and there are no questions of their direct neural
effects! They create a really vivid world that everyone enters, with full
sensorial presence. I map "perceptual geographies" in the immersive aural
architectures I create because I want to target certain specific spatial
effects with the kind of compelling unquestionable, sensorial focus that
emerges in a beat environment. WAYS OF HEARING -- how we locate, sense and
feel sonic events -- are the specific factors which characterize experience
in immersive sonic environments; how we particularize acoustic information
to construct distinct transformative experiences. HOW CERTAIN SOUNDS ARE TO BE PERCEIVED IN AN IMMERSIVE SONIC ENVIRONMENT IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE SOUNDS THEMSELVES. What perceptual modes they trigger - where and how they will exist for the listener. In creating 3D Music-Image Worlds, ways of hearing become as important in shaping an aural architecture as the acoustic information: such as frequencies, tone colors, and rhythms:

"Will certain sounds be locatable, seem miles away, feel close, pulsate
vertically above our head, vibrate an elbow, suddenly appear in the space,
dramatically disappear as though without a sound? Do we perceive the sound
in the room, in our head, a great distance away: do we experience all three
dimensions clearly at the same time? In the room, does the sound drift,
float, fall like rain? Does it make such a clear shape in the air we seem
to "see it" in front of our eyes? Is there no sound in the room at all, but
we continue to hear "after-sound" as our mind is processing sonic events
perceived minutes ago? Do we experience sonic imaging very near, moving
beside (outside and around) one ear only: "feel" patterns as they in fact,
do originate and develop quite specifically inside, within our ears.....?"

Taking VR (virtual reality) and telepresence as points of departure, it is
interesting to consider cross-sensory explorations between stereo visual
imaging and auditory dimension. After images. Thresholds. Physiological
resonances. Acoustic spaces of felt sound phenomena, experienced either
subliminally, or making recognizably direct physical resonances to the
body. Composite mental images of immersion in space, as in stereo vision;
direct physiological experience of an acoustic space, as distinguished from
the perception of an acoustic space, aurally, as "image."

The next installment of "Creating Presence" will discuss the staging of
some specific SONIC SHAPES and MOVEMENTS, and how they may appear in both foreground and background structures.

In the meantime pick up your copy of J.G. Ballard's "Vermillion Sands" and
enter what may be the first virtual world with total "presence" maintained
through each of the incredible stories. And imagine constructing a sonic
equivalent, that is as vividly and totally present, even though the
Episodes may change over time. "Tone of Place" is indelibly alive,
penetrating sensorially from all perspectives. How does he do this? Years
ago I lived with these stories. And I realize now how much they influenced
the development of my concept for the "Mini-Sound Series" which I create.

I returned to Ballard the other day when the "sonic curtain" came up in
Drew's session. I always loved the wonderful "Sound Sweep" where the little
guy with the "sonovac" cleans all embedded sound, including ultrasonic and
takes it to the sonic dump. It was wonderful to again read Ballard's
descriptions of "ultrasonic spaces" and the atmospheres created by these
inaudible musics which are perceived, but not heard. Hopefully we might
have time to discuss such ultrasonic tonal inlays later in the discussion.

-Maryanne Amacher

SELECTIVE BIOGRAPHY

In my first sound works I developed the idea of sonic telepresence,
pioneering the use of telecommunication in sound installations. While a
Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (1972-76) I developed a number of projects for solo and group
shows in collaboration with the visual artists Scott Fisher, Luis
Frangella, and the architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg. This was a very
interesting time, especially because of our ideas about what has since
become known as virtual reality, telepresence technologies, and the
internet. In the telelink installations for "CITY-LINKS" 1-22 (1967- ) the
sounds from one or more remote environment (in a city, or in several
cities) are transmitted in real-time to the exhibition space, as an ongoing
sonic environment. I create the "CITY-LINKS" installations using real-time
telelinks, transmitting the sounds from microphones which I place at the
remote locations. I introduced the concept of an environment-oriented
spatial sound sculpture (created by combining and modulating several remote
sound environments) in solo and group shows at the Museum of Contemporary
Art, Chicago (1974) and the Walker Arts Center, "Projected Images,"
Minneapolis. (1974) The adventure is in receiving live sonic spaces from
more than one location at the same time - the tower, the ocean, the
abandoned mill. Remote sounding environments enter our local spaces and
become part of our rooms. I was particularly interested in the experience
of "syncronicity" - hearing spaces distant from each other at the same
time--which we do not experience in our lives.

For over three years I received live sound from a microphone which I
installed on a window overlooking the ocean at the New England Fish
Exchange, Pier 6 Boston Harbor. Dedicated 15kc telelinks provided
continuous transmission of the BOSTON HARBOR sound environment to mixing
facilities at my studio. These continuous transmissions gave me the
opportunity to experience live incoming patterns over time. Time
corresponds here to life of the space, to sense of being there. Approach
and disappearances of sounding shapes.

My work is best represented in the three series of multimedia installations
produced in the United States, Europe, and Japan: the sonic telepresence
series, "CITY LINKS" 1-22 (1967- ); the architecturally staged "MUSIC FOR
SOUND JOINED ROOMS" (1980- ) and the "MINI-SOUND SERIES" (1985- ) a new
multimedia form which I create, that is unique in its use of architecture
and serialized narrative. In these major works I adopt the mini series
television format in order to develop a more involving narrative context, a
serialized narrative to be continued in consecutive episodes, as
distinguished from an ongoing installation. The evolving Scenarios of the
"Mini-Sound Series" build one upon the other over a period of several days
or weeks. The six part "SOUND HOUSE," my first "Mini-Sound Series" was
produced during a three month residency at the Capp Street Project in San
Francisco (Novl6-Dec22 1985). "THE MUSIC ROOMS" was produced by the DAAD
gallery in Berlin, and staged over a four week period (Feb19-Mar15 1987);
"STOLEN SOULS" commissioned by INKA Digital Arts Amsterdam, was presented
in De Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam (May20-24 1988); "202l THE LIFE PEOPLE"
commissioned by the Ars Electronic Festival, was presented in the
Brucknerhaus, Linz Austrria (Sept13-16 1989); and "THE BIAURALS"
commissioned by The Electrical Matter, an electronic arts festival was
presented at the Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, Pa. (Sept11-22
1990.)

In "MUSIC FOR SOUND JOINED ROOMS" and "MINI-SOUND SERIES" I use the
architectural features of a building to customize sound, visual, and
spatial elements, creating intense and dramatic sound experiences. I
produce these works in location-based installations that are built from
"structure borne" sound (sound traveling through walls, floors, rooms,
corridors) which acousticians distinguish from the "airborne" sound
experienced with conventional loudspeaker placements. An entire building or
series of rooms provides a stage for the sonic and visual sets of my
installations. Immersive aural architectures are constructed, linking the
main audience space sonically with adjoining rooms through specially
designed multiple loudspeaker configurations, creating the effect that
sounds originate from specific locations and heights rather than from the
loudspeakers. The idea is to create an atmosphere similar to the drama of
entering a cinematic closeup, a form of "sonic theater" in which
architecture magnifies the expressive dimensions of the work.

The audience enters the set and walks into the "world" of the story,
exploring multi-perceptual viewpoints. As they move through new scenes
being created by the "Sound Characters," they discover clues to the story
distributed throughout the rooms. Places of "thematic focus" are selected
to create the scenes - rooms, corridors, walls, doorways, balconies,
stairways. In some episodes sound sweeps through the rooms; in others,
chords, and tonalities are intricately joined between the rooms; in still
others a particular sound shape is emphasized to animate sonic imaging in a
distant room. Together with the architectural staging of projected visual
environments, I am able to construct multi-dimensional environment-oriented
experiences, anticipating virtual immersion environments. Rooms, walls, and
corridors that sing. Architecture especially articulates sonic imaging in
"structure borne" sound, magnifying color and spatial presence as the sound
shapes interact with the structural characteristics of the rooms before
reaching the listener. The rooms themselves become speakers, producing
sound which is felt throughout the body as well as heard.

In two recent installations I had the opportunity to produce "Music For
Sound Joined Rooms" in remarkable architectures with unique acoustical
characteristics: the Kunsthalle-Krems in Austria (1995;) and the 21st
Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima Japan (1992.) I created
distinct sonic worlds that could only be articulated through architecture.
The Kunsthalle-Krems Minioritenkirche is a large expansive space that was
originally part of a monastery that was built in the 11th century. I
produced my work, "A Step Into It, Imagining 1001 Years" in the six areas
of the Kunsthalle: the main hall; the altar spaces (one at a high elevation
approached by a tall stairway;) the two antechambers adjoining the high
altar; and the crypt. A space of expanded seeing and hearing enfolded
throughout the Church, linking sonic interactions and visual imaging in six
thematic locations. Aural events appeared larger than life; as though many
miles away; inside the listener. For "Synaptic Island" which I produced at
the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima, I created very
discrete placements of sound, emphasizing distinct characteristics in four
adjoining rooms. Special layering of sonic imaging was developed; areas of
intense sonic pressure; others very ethereal. Staged at specific locations
and heights, these sonic areas became tactile in presence, existing as
"things in themselves."

To produce the location-based installations for my major works, intensive
acoustic and auditory research in the space is required. Usually a
residency of one month is needed for my investigations, depending on the
size of the space and the number of rooms. During this period I discover
special acoustic features of each room, exploring how they interact
sonically with each other, and develop the aural imaging and spatial
characteristics of the installation. Creating the detailed sound design is
very much like scripting a sonic choreography.

Recent projects include the creation of major works: a String Quartet with
an electroacoustic installation commissioned by the Kronos String Quartet
and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund to be premiered in 1999; two new
installation works produced in 1998 for the Kunstmuseum Bern, "Taktalos"
Festival (March 1998); and for "Tunnel Vision" in the three story
Maastunnel, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (Sept 1998). Visiting Artist at Bard
College (July 1998) and at the Art Institute of Chicago (April 1999). The
Two Part Multimedia Narrative, "A Step Into It, Imagining 1001 Years,"
commissioned by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Culture and Siemens Kultur
Program was produced in the Kunsthalle-Krems, Austria. (Feb-Mar 1995) "The
Reference Room" a telelink installation using the "CITY-LINKS" format was
produced for the Rosekrans Residency at Mills College. (1993) The Four Part
Multimedia Narrative, "Synaptic Island" was commissioned by the Japanese
government and produced at the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in
Tokushima Japan. (Apr-May 1992) I was invited to give the John Spencer Camp
Lecture at Wesleyan University. (Nov 7 1995) Participation in the two week
Symposium, "Tuned Matters Into Sound," Krems-Vienna with La Monte Young,
Bernhard Leitner, James Tenney, and Georg Friedrich Haas at the Museum of
Modern Art, Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna. (Feb20-Mar5 1995) 3-D sonic
architectures, commissioned by the Matshushita Electric Company were
designed and produced for the 750 programmable loudspeakers in Panasonic
Hall, Tokyo. (1991) CD recordings were released on the Tzadik label,
"Sound Characters" (Making The Third Ear) ( Feb 99;) and on the Asphodel
Sombient Triology: "The Throne Of Drones" (May 95) "The Swarm Of Drones"
(Oct 95) and "The Storm Of Drones" (Aug 96)