Sound artist Bill Fontana’s new exhibition, Primal Energies, opened in the ovoid-dome Space 01 Gallery at Kunsthaus Graz in Austria on 1 July 2020. Dedicated to the subject of renewable energy, the exhibition features video imagery displayed on eight large screens, along with the sound of wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal resources. These sounds are conveyed through 64 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers, while a beta version of the company’s soon-to-be-released Spacemap Go technology is used to create and automate dynamic spatial sound movements.
Sounds and images for the work were recorded on location by Fontana with assistance from Scott George of Autograph Sound. During this preparatory period, Fontana and George – both of whom have long association with Meyer Sound – were recruited to serve as beta testers of Spacemap Go. A spatial sound design and mixing tool that leverages the processing power of the Galaxy network platform, Spacemap Go is designed to provide an easy-to-use interface for multichannel panning using one or more iPads connected to systems comprising multiple Galaxy processors.
“We used Spacemap Go extensively on Primal Energies,” said Fontana. “It’s the digital brain behind all that is happening with dynamic spatialisation of sound. In that realm, it lets me do everything I did before using the D-Mitri system, but working directly with Galaxy makes it far more cost effective, particularly if you are planning something as a permanent installation in a museum or architectural setting.”
Fontana was also impressed by the creative freedom afforded by Spacemap Go’s iPad app: “We used the iPad to set up everything on site,” he said. “We wanted to create a kind of sonic choreography through the space, and the flexibility of Spacemap Go made it the ideal tool for making that happen.”
George has collaborated with Fontana on more than a dozen projects over the years, and with Primal Energies he was again charged with overall AV system design, as well as design specifics for the audio system within the 900m² (9,687.5ft²) space. Fontana’s ‘sonic canvas’ was a matrixed grid of 56 Meyer Sound UPM-1PTM full-range loudspeakers augmented by eight 900-LFC low-frequency control elements. For the front end of the audio system, George specified a Mac Mini computer loaded with QLab software for the 24 channel playback and central show control, connecting to the four distributed Galaxy processors over an AVB network. All the spatial trajectories were created on-site with Spacemap Go then saved as a file for automated panning in synchronisation with the playback programme.
“The iPad interface for Spacemap Go makes it much simpler and more intuitive for the sound artist to grab a sound and move it around wherever desired, rather than using a mouse or a keyboard,” said George. “This also allows Bill to bring in multiple cues at the same time, so he can try out various trajectories before we save them. And the fact that you can use multiple iPads simultaneously allows sound artists to work collaboratively in the same space.”
His affiliation with a major rental company makes George keenly aware of the importance of availability and cost efficiencies: “Spacemap Go leverages the power of existing hardware, using boxes that are already in the inventory of rental companies worldwide,” he said. “All they will need is the new firmware upgrade and they will be ready to implement Spacemap Go for their clients.”
George was also impressed with how Spacemap Go communicated with widely adopted playback and show control programmes such as QLab, with audio and data carried over the AVB network. “We just took four ports out of the AVB switch and ran them to each of the Galaxys, carrying multichannel audio and data,” he said. “We also set up an intuitive user interface in QLab where the museum operator simply presses a button to start and stop.”
For Fontana, Spacemap Go was useful in what he describes as “deconstructing” the typical video soundtrack. “Here, the sounds are not localised to a specific video,” he said. “They are all related to the common theme, but sounds are shifting around throughout the space, more like a dream space, so you have this incredible enveloping sound experience as you move from screen to screen. For my purposes, Spacemap Go is fantastic. It was a privilege to be among the first to use this technology, and to continue my long relationship with Meyer Sound.”
Another key member of the Primal Energies project team was Martin Beck of the Austrian firm Technik für Kunst and Kuturprojekte. Beck supervised the on-site installation and his company also provided all AV equipment, except for the Meyer Sound loudspeakers, which were provided by PRG Hamburg.
Primal Energies was curated by Katrin Bucher Trantow and is presented in cooperation with the University of Art Graz, Ö1 Kunstradio, Radio Helsinki, mur.at, FunkFeuer Graz and the Kultur inklusiv Project, with further support from the AVL Cultural Foundation.
Photos: Universalmuseum Joanneum/N. Lackner
