SonicArk is the title of a dramaturgical concept for a series of events and performances taking place in Aarhus throughout 2017. SonicArk is also the name of a physical structure which will be established on Europaplads. SonicArk encompasses a series of compositions created throughout the year for this installation on Europaplads.
Work: sound architectures, sonic pleasures and listening experiences
Client: Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture
Team: Andres Bosshard, Franziska Grob, Jürgen Hankeln, Trond Maag and others
Status: the project description showed here is still in the process of modification, so the final version may differ in some aspects
The cycle of the ear (click one image to zoom in)
The dramaturgic concept of SonicArk connects different sites in the city of Aarhus with different groups of people living in Aarhus. The titles of the dramaturgic elements indicate the poetic character of the SonicArk project: the flying orchestra, the laughter of the queen, the bells of birth, the fleet of singing choirs, and the breath of future (in order of their appearance from fall 2016 to October 2017).
The physical structure of SonicArk is a sound architecture placed on, and carefully sized for, the Europaplads, which will serve as the heart of the SonicArk project. It represents an imaginative shipbuilding site, where all sounds of Aarhus will meet and then embark. The structure will remain on the site for 6 months.
The series of compositions of SonicArk is entirely based on field recordings in Aarhus. Andres Bosshard will create public recordings events, called recording pleasures, during four longer visits to Aarhus, beginning at the end of 2016 and continuing during 2017. Based on these recordings, Andres Bosshard will compose a growing series of multichannel compositions, which will be stored in the memory of the SonicArk installation..
Impressions from Europaplads square and surrounding area (click one image to zoom in)
The iron tower, which has been removed (click one image to zoom in)
SonicArk’s structure and set up on Europaplads
SonicArk is an ensemble of sounding objects placed on a particular part of the Europaplads in front of Åboulevarden 3, which until recently, was a four-lane main street covering the Aarhus Å River. SonicArk is considered a continuous musical instrument that enables every visitor to discover and enjoy new listening perspectives in and throughout the acoustic arena of the newly established Europaplads. The structure will remain on the site for 6 months.
A group of about five pillars with rotating parabolic heads radiate their sounds across the listening area. These parabolic heads serve as sound mirrors and are fine-tuned to human voices. They will also be able to play with the echoes of the water surface, the stone floor and the facades of the adjacent buildings. Three «Bosshard Plexi» speakers will hover in the air above this whole area of the square.
First drafts of sonicark (click one image to zoom in)
SonicArk's set of compositions
The compositions of SonicArk form a growing library of the choreophonic translations of all the multichannel scores created during the end of 2016 and during 2017 in Aarhus. According to the variety of listening perspectives from all the recordings of the public recording pleasures, there will be a large variety of shorter and longer choreophonic parts. All choreophonic parts will be stored in the memory of the SonicArk installation, which can elegantly change its configurations and nourish the choice of parts for the flow of the performance. The stream of murmurs, which is constantly growing and flowing between our houses and along the streets to finally disappear while ascending to the open sky, is the model for the spatial behaviors of all sounds of the SonicArk. The wind above the Europaplads will actually conduct performances of the multichannel score and thus create and perform a new musical format for a public urban space: the choreophony.
The SonicArk installation listens for specific sound signals to activate a new part of the score. Very short sonic-moments behave like leaves, longer ones like twigs, and the tallest like branches. The SonicArk is an invisible tree of sounds. And like a tree, it is open and accessible to the imagination and understanding of everyone.