Aria

A five channel sound installation

2018

Sound fills spaces and surroundings even though you cannot see it. Through material, sound waves can reproduce and become audible for the human ear. Form and matter are necessary components for the existence of sound but also affect how we perceive sound waves. Without material, the sound disappears in a vacuum.

In Aria there are five voices singing a simple rhythmic melody. The sound of the voices comes from polyhedrical shapes with built-in speakers, hanging from the ceiling. The melody is created around and based on the geometrical shape that the speaker is made of. The triangle, which is the base of the form, also forms the base of the rhythm. In this way a correlation between the shape and the sound is designed.

The voices within the sound system are not bearers of messages. They do not sing words. Their only purpose is to be what a voice is. Air; which gives a sound through the oscillations of the vocal cord and the surrounding architecture of the body. Although the voices lack a spoken message, they can still be full of information.

Within radio astronomy, astronomers listen to radio waves from space and can provide information about the distance, structure and direction of a celestial body, through informa-tion from the sound wave. Similarly, by listening to a person’s voice, we can determine that persons state of mind.