Along with continuing to work on the contextual elements of my end of year hand-in, this week I've been working on finalising my installation plans. The elements within the space will include speakers, seating and a room sheet. I'll also need to do some basic room preparation to make the space tidy beforehand.
Speakers
I am continuing to work with four speakers, each playing individual sounds from the Waiwera low-tide shoreline. While I am comfortable working with the ones I currently have, I'm also looking into whether there are any other higher quality options available that may help make the sound experience better (less a necessary requirement and more a "if I find some and they significantly improve things then I'll use them" situation). I'll also be using two small Bluetooth amps which can be hidden in the ceiling.
While I want the focus to continue to be on the sound rather than the technology of the work, the speakers will be an inevitable part of the installation. In navigating them consciously in relation to the other elements of the room, I think they could be incorporated strategically to create a locational listening experience within the space, without falling back on simply using the architecture of the space itself. This was something I explored during my residency time at DEMO. Installation comes with a few options. As ceiling speakers, the speakers are able to be situated in the walls or roof easily, however I am also considering potentially building small stands or ceiling mounts for them that would allow them to be freestanding. This could also be accomplished using wires to suspend them from the roof, which is the solution I'm leaning towards at present. I'll have more ideas after a Bunnings run and a chat with our Fine Art technician today.
Seating
Initially I had thought about building benches around the outer edges of the room (assuming speakers were mounted in the walls), however in talking with Sonya I also mentioned the idea of building seating based off of the shapes of the rock forms at Waiwera. It's a little ambitious, but I think this could be a nice nod to the pages of time/book of stone concept I've been working with (i.e. having the topography/layers of the stone as a design element).
I've since contacted a few CNC cutting providers, and am in the process of finalising a 3D scan for use in the design. As long as the cost is not too steep, I think it should be doable within the timeframe :) If worst comes to absolute worst however, I do have the backup option of repurposing the seating I used for my last seminar installation, but I hope things won't come to that.
Room sheet
To add context to the work, I plan on using part of a reflective diary entry in my room sheet. Something that came up in my DEMO residency was that the sounds were very ambiguous without context, almost too much so. Adding a written, narrative element into the mix would serve to both contextualise the recordings and tap into the poetic, world building quality of the digital elements present. This weekend, I'll be attending a writing workshop at Samoa House - I hope to use this time to develop this.
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