“T. Sens” is an interactive sound installation to explore. It aims at sharing a musical and sensory experience rooted in the Taiwanese “soundscape” and various sensations.
It comprises four mini-installations intimately entwined with the singular aspects of the Taiwanese location and helping participants comprehend an original musical piece through subjective experiences involving touch, music and vibrations.
“T. Sens” is a poetical evocation of our rapport to our environment and a sensation exploratorium. Together, these sensations and the sound creations they’re associated with, arranged to evoke dreamy atmospheres, connect us more deeply to our own nature.
By interacting with these four distinct installations, the audience rekindles their own intimate “selfscape”, capable of subjectively invoking images and sensations of walking along a beach on the ocean while physically standing at the heart of a tropical forest, or of the calm and cool interior of a temple, or alternating between the trepidations of a city and the peaceful and reassuring shelter of a home.
“T. Sens” presents unique musical matter and universe, to help us reconnect truly with our sound environment, to feel it anew, all senses awake, by shedding the anaesthetizing weight of habits.
Thus correlating touch, sensations and music, “T. Sens” offers children, infants and disabled people (physically disabled, visually impaired, etc.) multiple entry points to the perception of a musical piece.
An interactive sound installation for the younger public
Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Taiwan) From January 7th 2017
T. Sensations
An evolving work of GARDEN OF SENSATIONS :
The Fine Art Museum de Taipei invited the artist to continue his art reserach around the "INNER GARDEN" / EXTERIOR GARDEN issue through the sensations.
When the intimacy of the "Inner garden" faces up foreign countries producing new sensations, a new poetical fantasy adorns the art expression of that "inner garden".
At the Beach / The Soundbox
The sea is one of the most present forces of nature in Taiwan. The country’s seashore is very lively and sounding: waves, pebbles, rocks… seabirds of all kinds. The two coasts are very different: the Philippines Sea coast is mostly wild and violent (big waves, strong currents, pebbles, etc.), while the Taiwan Strait coast is more peaceful (sand beaches, flatter shores, etc.).
The Module : The Soundbox is an interactive sandbox which can be filled with any vegetal or mineral matter that can be hand knead. Mixes of vegetal and mineral matter picked in the natural Taiwan environment will be placed in the Soundbox. Each time a hand is moved inside the box, rubbing sounds are heard; the grains of sand or other matter particles transform into evocations of far-away and aquatic worlds. Vibrations from the users’ movements are picked up and trigger sounds to complement that water soundworld.
The Sensations : Burying, rubbing.
Sound and musical universe : Evoking aquatic and far-away worlds, the Soundbox soundscape is made up of two complementary elements. First is the sound of rubbing against the inside faces of the box, which is picked up and processed in a sequence of distant echoes, sounding somewhat like breathing. The complementary sound of this long-lasting one is triggered by vibration sensors which emit short sliding sound samples, fluid and reedy, evoking soft and distant voices.
In the Jungle / Singing Umbrellas
“Larger than life”, possibly hostile, conveying strong feelings of lush life invading any available space… The Jungle soundscape is built on a background sound of spatial movement, supplemented by a layer of sudden nearby events such as insects buzzing or monkeys shouting, as well as a layer of cascades, rivers, etc.
This acoustic sum induces the vivid sensation of being at the center of a natural matrix teeming with life, of which we feel we are a passing guest.
The module : This installation invites you to touch vegetal matter to trigger sound sensations. Three interactive umbrellas are suspended above the public. Vines hang from each umbrella. Movements from the audience trigger sounds reminiscent of vegetation.
The Sensations : Caresses, brushing.
Sound and musical universe : A light and floating sound cloud swaddles the three umbrellas. Each stir of a vine causes participants to experience shivering sounds. These include: biting, reactive, chewing sounds, mouth sounds, crackling twigs...
In the Wind / The Wind Garden
Taiwan suffers regular assaults from the wind – tropical winds, storms, typhoons… It is fully part of the country’s nature, from the gentle wind caress on one’s skin to terrible tropical storms. Moving air has, in fact, thousands of inflections, including breathing, and any object exposed to an air flux sets to vibrate – wind flutes and garden.
The module : A gentle air flow is blown in this garden and circulates freely. It lifts any light and free object – vegetal and industrial matter, blades of grass, paper band, etc. Simultaneously, a conglomeration of sounds is sounding.
Introducing one’s hand in the space, or any other object, unsettles the air flow, which, in turn, changes the sound mass. Sound volutes are generated, sounding like air flutes.
The Sensation : The gentle stroke of air.
Sound and musical universe : A wind flute melody floats around in sync with the air flow. One given chord slowly evolves, made up of sound conglomeration, evoking natural acoustic ghosts. Soft reed organ – the Wind Garden evokes various air spirits, gently singing their song in free space. The changes caused by obstacles add or subtract sounds such as shifted, inharmonic arpeggios. Such disturbances convey an additional notion of chance and compound musical possibilities through fast and voluble arpeggios.
Human Constructions / The 3 Interactive Gongs
The module : Three metal plates are hung to a bamboo frame each. They are fitted with capacitive sensors and vibration-creating motors. When the public gets close to the plates, light starts bathing the module area. When they touch them, they start vibrating and sounding both the original music piece and vibrating sounds.
The Sensation : Touch.
Sound and musical universe : The three distinct soundscapes will be treated distinctively. For the Temple piece, I will use sounds of religious percussions, traditional musical instruments, etc., to freely evoke the sacred universe of temples.
As for the native soundscape, I will use primarily recordings of percussions, for optimal vibration of the wooden interactive gong. To sound-stage modern cities, I will use the raw profusion of city sounds as a base to develop a very disparate and lively polyphony.
1 – The Temples: Processions, services, individual or group prayers, celebrations… Temples are active all year round. The musical universe they convey is very rich and intimately related to spirituality.
3 – The Modern Cities: Taiwanese cities are akin to the country’s industrial development – frenzied, widely spread-out, and vibrating with life, day or night.
2 – Indigenous Settlements: The indigenous population has its own singular culture, expressed as much in its architecture than in its cult or its music. Numerous artists have chosen to revive that heritage, especially in the East and South of the island.
Scenography
From visiting one garden, I'm remembering
walkways, pathes and edges
T. Sens
Four themes : four modules in "T. Sens"
One location = One soundscape = One module = One sensation
This philosophy will be conveyed through simple and spontaneous interactions with four modules:
- Human constructions : The 3 Interactive Gongs
- In the Wind : The Wind Garden
- In the Jungle : Singing Umbrellas
- At the Beach : The Soundbox
“T. Sens” aims at giving the participating audience a lively experience of sounds, sensations and interactions linked to Taiwan through four distinct themes: the seashore, the jungle, the wind et human constructions (temples, cities, traditional items). We thus present four installations corresponding to these four “universes”, each of which with its own type of interaction, of sensations and of musical world. The public will thus better be aware of the incredible richness of that environment and can contribute to “reinvent” it through their various interactions with the installation.
Every installation “soundscape” will be created from sound takes recorded on location by the composer. And each module will offer its specific sensation.
Design / music : Alexandre Lévy
Artistic Director : Alexandre Lévy
Conception technique : Angélique Verbeck
scenography : Alexandre Lévy et Angélique Verbeck Computarized musical programming : Max bruckert
A co-production aKousthéa, Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan.
With the support of Bureau Français de Taipei, Centre de Coopération et d'Action Culturelle (CCAC).