SONICAVE - Jiri Suchanek sound and light interactive environmental installation

508sound-sync leds, 10.1 surround cave sound-system, 800m2, Max/MSP, ATmega 168, MEDUSA touch interaface

The SONICAVE location: the cave VÝPUSTEK , MORAVIAN KARST, Czech republic

Sound and light interactive environmental installation.
10.1 surround experimental music and synchronised light network in the cave.
MEDUSA : touch-distance sensor interface.

The SONICAVE is a mixed media installation placed in the old cave dome using its special acoustic, light, historical and symbolic aspects. Basicaly it is the interactive multichannel sound and light system placed in the cave bringing unexpected situation for the cave vistiors. The installation is a permanent part of a every tourists tour inside the cave Vypustek in the Moravian Karst area. I understand the whole work as a big experimental electronic sound-light instrument that uses the cave space and acoustics as the unique resonant body. In this work I continue in my „abstract“ sound research where I practically explore the relation betwen sound and its actual environment The very big effort was given to discovering the ways of creations spatial "sonolights" or let say "lumisounds" as the compositional spatial units. I have connect the sound actions with the lights and synced together in the beginning – in the compositional procces. The all 508 LED lights in the cave dome can be composed directly in MIDI composition just together with the music composition. The regular realisation of this concept in real life was possible just because of quite long technology research and development. Sonicave is also an art intervention into a public place normally not percepted as an art gallery. The „holiday tourists“ are here confronted with this electronic art piece which existence they totally not expect at this place. Sonicave search alternative possibilities for presentation of „electronic art“ work in non-standart ( and in my region much more living) place for art compared to somehow „dead“ place of the gallery. Actually the result is that the work is visited by public that will normally almost never go into the art gallery. What I tried to realise was the symbiosis of electronic art and the nature. I feel importance in actual rising technology info-age to keep the connection with real „bloody killing smelling“ wonderfull nature. The seperation of comfortable technological city life from the touch of the soil, wood, stones (…) brings dangerous future vision in my mind. Conceptually I have no intention to stop technological development ( what would be totally silly utopist wish) but I try to find the way of hopefully meangfull (artistic) coexistence of electronic technology and nature environment.

medusa1

The Medusa touch interface is divided into ten parts - each coresponding to one loudspeaker. Each parts acts as a stop-play button for sequence. There is 7 sequences in each part. You can smoothly select and change it by 5 distance IR sensors. BUT each sensor also change some other parametres (delay, sound position surround field, filter) in other parts. The inputs data are routed to several destinations which is not known for the visitors. So there begins the game to discover how does it work, and what the touch is affecting. Finally it is not just its own (sonic) place... As these instrument is for aprox 5 people the comunication is very important. One IR sensor acts as something like "tuned theremin" - the data input si filtered to the chosen scale and the scale is divided into all 10 speakers. The light system is driven by MIDI (note numbers, velocity and several CC). Each note number shine the specified LED circuit. The velocity affects the brightness and some other parametres sets fade in and out time. As the instalation works in two modes (interactive and composition) there are two totally different results. One is quite precissly composed 3 min. composition for normal visitors, and second is wild and unpredictable sonic explosion played by people who enter this interactive zone...

Installation explores the real possibilities of the (re)definition the surrounding space and atmosphere. The point of view is create powerfull but almost unvisible technology which makes some strange connection between mind and enviroment. The symbolic aspects are micro-macro mirroring. Searching for new powerfull experiences.

Loc: 49°17'28.387"N, 16°43'26.69"E