aerial (brass) explored how sound could mediate people's relationships with each other and with the physical environment of the installation. The piece was exhibited at The Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham and Centrespace, Visual Research Centre, Dundee. During this time musicians and dancers were invited to improvise with the piece.

The space is silent when aerial (brass) is encountered for the first time. As a person enters the gallery space they see three pairs of acoustic boxes mounted on the gallery walls. A taut piano wire is stretched between each pair of boxes above head height, pulled through a veneer membrane on the front of each box.

In the distance a simple block of brass, Ingot, sits on a table. A piano wire is stretched over its surface and attached to the floor beneath the table.

As each aerial wire is approached a sinewave is triggered which is amplified through a speaker in three of the acoustic boxes. The person's movement around each wire effects the volume and frequency of each sinewave and the sound of the piano wire vibrating against the veneer membrane of the box can be heard in the space overlaying a more analogue texture of sound on top of the sinewave.

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The installation subtly translates the body's position, movement and involvement within the installation into sound. In liaising with other people in the installation it is possible to generate a loose and intuitive "composition" of sound. The wires may also be touched and "played", turning the room into a resonant and responsive instrument. A person interacting with the wires described it as: "playing the room like an instrument".

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The brass object Ingot responds to touch. The audience's interaction with Ingot further effects the sinewaves which are being triggered by the other people's movement around the aerial wires.

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While installed in Centrespace string musicians and dancers were invited to improvise with the installation.

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aerial (brass)

interactive sound installation

2004 - 2005

The installation was commissioned by NOW Performing Arts Festival and was exhibited at The Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham in Nov. 2004, and Centrespace, Visual Research Centre, Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, Dundee in April 2005. Ingot was developed during a Hothaus Residency at VIVID in Birmingham in collaboration with the Nicolas Villar, Dept. Computing at the University of Lancaster.