The deepest dustbin in the world (2009) – Rolighetsteorin.se
How deep is the deepest dustbin in the world? An installation that surprises you and stimulates your imagination.
By Rolighetsteorin.se
Links:
www.rolighetsteorin.se
Tomglasspelet (2009) – Rolighetsteorin.se
How to make recycling fun. Rolighetsteorin.se
Links:
www.rolighetsteorin.se
Pianotrappan (2009) – Rolighetsteorin.se
How do you make people fall in love with a staircase? Members of the project Rolighetsteorin.se rebuilt one of the stairs at Odenplan subway station, Stockholm, to a huge piano. Thus, they got more people to turn down the escalator and instead gave them a thrilling discovery in their everyday life. The film about the installation has more than 22,000,000 views on youtube.
Links:
www.rolighetsteorin.se
Harmonic bridge (1998) – Sam Auinger and Bruce Odland
In connection with a motorway crossing near the Museum of Contemporary Art, Massachussets, artists have put up a very interesting and useful piece of art. The rough traffic noice, previously making the space inaccessible, is now resonating through mounted organ pipes and creating tones. The harmonized traffic is played in loudspeakers inside concrete cubes beneath the bridge, and the area is radically changed.
Permanent installation.
Links:
Södervärns bus station, Malmö
Masking / Audio sounds at Södervärns bus station, Malmö
A room with water sounds creates variation in this traffic dense place and moves focus from the noise.
Created by the city planning office in Malmö.
Klangwäldchen (2007) – Åsa Stjerna
Just outside the Nordic embassy in Berlin, a group of birches got a new life through the installation Klangwäldchen by Åsa Stjerna. The purpose was to bring out the trees as individuals and to let them become something more than just plant material. The birches spoke with a sparkling voice, distributed via loudspeakers mounted high up in the trees.
Links:
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Värdens park – Ulf Rehnström och Per Hedfors
Along the pathway in this park you find speakers mounted in wells. The sounds played are inspired by the sea, since this is the theme of the park. When the visitors follow the path, sensors trigger the playback of speaker sounds, and you can hear waves, gulls, bells and whales.
“Värdens park” was created on demand from Poseidon, an housing enterprise in Gothenburg. The sound path was designed by Ulf Rehnström, landscape architect of Landskapsgruppen and Per Hedfors, SLU
Sea organ in Zadar, Croatia – Nikola Bašić
By the coast of Zadar, Croatia, an unusual kind of music takes form as the sea composes hymns on a large organ. Underneath the stairs leading down to the water specially designed organ pipes are constructed. The pipes are in immediate contact with the sea, and triggered by it’s waves and motions. The composition changes with the mood of the sea, and there is a ceaseless flow of new melodies. The structure is well integrated with the architecture and the spot is very popular.
Read more here and here. With this project, architect Nikola Bašić won European Prize for Urban Public Space in 2006. Documentation: webschepper
FUNtain Hydraulophone at Ontario Science Center – Steve Mann
The world’s largest hydraulophone is found outside Ontario Science Center in Toronto, Canada. Visitors can play on the sculpture, which appears to be a fusion between a flute and a fountain. By supressing different parts of the water flow, the pressure is changed, and tones are produced in the large metallic tubes. The installation, with its two “keys”, provides an environment for interaction between people as well as between water and sound.
Movieclip about the origin of the hydraulophone. Author: Steve Mann, Professor, Inventor and Musician.
test sound
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SCALA – Mikael Strömberg
SCALA is a sound art installation at Gävle station. In one of the stairs, eight sensors are placed and when stepped upon they randomly trigger off different sounds.
Every sound is related to trains and/or travelling, and some of them are under the threat of extinction. The artist, Mikael Strömberg, used a musical scale of eight points as model when placing the sensors. The plates are sensitive to pressure, and the sound changes in proportion to the weight in the footsteps.
Links:
Gallerian in Stockholm – Urban Sound Institute (USIT)
By using directed speakers and paraboles, the research group Urban Sound Institute (USIT) brings a welcome intermission to the busy soundscape in the mall “Gallerian”, Stockholm. The added background sound, changing over time, connects with the site-specific qualities in the mall, such as the reverberation in the hall. The installation creates variation in the sonic atmosphere. Not every visitor notices the audio enhancement, but it still awakens associations and offers a peace of mind. Apart from the venue documented here, two escalators are equipped with added sound.
Singing Ringing Tree by Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu
The hilly landscape outside Burnley in Lancashire, England, has been adorned with a unique sculpture called “The Singing Ringing Tree”. The creation, erected in 2006, is designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, who were inspired by wind organs. The pipes in the sculpture generate tones when stroked by the wind. Length, design and cooperation between the pipes affects the melodies you can hear when the wind blows over the rugged landscape.
In 2007 the creators won The National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for architectural excellence. Read more here and here. Movie by jonathanbrind
Revoicing the striated Soundscape (2012) – Jordan Lacey
“Revoicing the Striated Soundscape”, Melbourne, is a project that brings life to air conditioners and provides them the ability to communicate with people passing by. The soundscape of the city, constantly affected by the dull buzz from those machines, is hereby given a more attractive voice. A sense of dialogue between the city and its citizens is thus created, and a disturbing noise is turned into art.
This clip starts with a section of Melbournes general soundscape. Read more