Anatropia

An anatropic design is that which can be read from any direction, independent of orientation or reference point. Before architecture there is space; before sound, silence. The model for the piece is the U-shaped labyrinthine ruins of Chavin de Huantar, in Peru. First it is an architecture of darkness, disorientation and intimidation, but upon further investigation it becomes a designed path of the non-visual senses: sounds of trickling water and fresh currents of air carry the explorer to higher states of awareness, power, and understanding. From order to chaos, certainty and confusion, and back again, like the labyrinth, our proposed installation is designed to free us from the status of pure subject or object, anatropicly.

There will be two rooms used in this installation; ideally they would be connected but discrete spaces.

Room 1 (Initial Source Encounter):
7 speakers positioned at eye-level surround the perimeter of a room. Small cameras and lights positioned at the top of each speaker aim towards the center of the room. A piano piece plays out of the speakers.

Upon approaching an individual speaker, a person’s movement is interpreted by the system of cameras and lights – somewhat like a theremin, except rather than producing sound, the movement near a given speaker interrupts and modulates only the sound of that speaker. As more bodies enter and move around the room, the composition shifts from a recognizable, seemingly pre-recorded sound to something suddenly foreign yet malleable. It becomes an interactive and sculptural sonic event.

Room 2 (Secondary Source Encounter):
A man (Erol Altay) plays classical piano pieces from a piano in the center of the second room. The room is mic’d around its perimeter from the same 7 points as the speaker configuration in the first room, with each microphone corresponding to a single speaker. This live amplification is played only through the speakers in the first room.