“
Cave of Sounds is one of the most successful examples of an interactive installation I’ve ever seen. Its elegant simplicity and expert execution drew me to it: this work is inclusive and fun, and most of all sounds great.
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Cave of Sounds invites audiences to be active explorers within a musical ensemble.
The award-winning project began in 2012 during Tim Murray-Browne’s time as composer in residence at Music Hackspace through Sound and Music’s Embedded programme. Murray-Browne announced an open call to join an experimental collective of musicians. Each would each create an instrument encapsulating their individual identities and musical practice.
The eight instruments are arranged in a circle facing inwards. Each can be approached and played by audience members and any number can be played together. They are all designed to be played with no prior experience. Diverse methods and sounds emerge, with an equitable experience for participants that treats those with no musical experience the same as it treats those who are musically adept.
In 2018, a new production of Cave of Sounds launched, debuting at Athens Science Festival to over 11,000 visitors.
Inspiration here comes from prehistoric musical practices, drawing on collective music making experiences using primitive and intuitive instruments.
Cave of Sounds creates an experience of curiosity, play and energy. It aims to capture the excitement and energy we imagine of prehistoric musical rituals around a fire, an active collaboration between people exploring new social practices and technologies of self-expression.
This inspiration is in contrast to a highly technical realisation of the concept. Each of these electronic instruments, which you can play with movement, light, shadow and touch, feeds into a centralised computer that keeps everything in key and on beat. No musical experience is needed to participate, which allows for an open flow of ideas and play without root in dogmatic modes of musical practice.
In the centre, a glowing hub emits flickers of dancing lights in response to the musical activity, illustrating connections between the instruments and how participants can interact with each other through sound. Inspired by drumming circles and other non-hierarchical musical practices, this layout aims to encourage participants to look up beyond their own instrument and connect with those around them.
Some musicologists such as Christopher Small have argued that any musical ritual, from an orchestral recital to an illegal rave, serves to celebrate or reinforce a particular model of how society is sociopolitically organised. In this light, we challenge the specialisation of creative expression within contemporary society, and, for many, the relegation of artistic experience to passive consumption.
The circular arrangement of the instruments facing inwards is inspired by prehistoric stone circles. It encourages collective play both between and for participants, rather than to an audience of spectators. We’re aiming to loosen preconceptions that participants have about performance, composition, collaboration and improvisation.
Through this, we want Cave of Sounds to embody the human capacity for a social organisation that emerges organically and without hierarchy. Through collective action, empowered by accessible technology, the work is a flagbearer for the maker movement, grassroots activism and a vision that empowers individual agency in a post-industrial world.
The Instruments
Cave of Sounds began in November 2012 at London’s Music Hackspace as part of Tim Murray-Browne’s Embedded artistic residency with Sound and Music. The eight artists, led by Tim, each developed a musical instrument for what was, at the time, an imagined eight piece ensemble.
Sonicsphere by Panagiotis Tigas
A palm-sized sphere with an embedded wireless gyroscope that you can use to warp and charter spaces of heavy digital timbres.
Joker by Wallace Hobbes
A punchy drum kit you play by wearing a mask and tapping your fingers onto conductive tape.
The Animal Kingdom by Daniel Lopez
A world of sounds you awaken and shepherd by casting hand shadows in the shape of animals onto a table top, which are read and interpreted by an interior camera.
Generative Net Sampler by Tadeo Sendon
Experimental audio samples, created from digital field recordings of the internet, are triggered as you move through invisible cylindrical trigger zones, detected using a 3D camera.
Lightefface by Kacper Ziemianin
A deep drone you control by shining lamps over 24 light sensors, each of which modulates the intensity of a different harmonic of a fundamental frequency.
Campanology by Dom Aversano
Generative rhythms derived through the mathematics of church bell ringing patterns, controlled through free movement of your hands using a 3D camera.
Mini-Theremin by Susanna Garcia
Using hand gestures, you control a DIY theremin running through a pitch-tracker, turning it into a controller to mangle noise synthesis.
Wind by Tim Murray-Browne
A breathy flute sound you play by moving your hands around your body through a grid of harmonious notes, sensed using a 3D camera.
Visitors interact with each instrument in a radically different way, embodying the dynamic and creative hacker scene that this piece of work emerged from.
They are designed with simple and primal input methods in mind, much like the prehistoric music makers that inspired this project, yet are capable of producing diverse and complex sounds. The musical possibilities become even greater when played together.
Origins
Cave of Sounds began in 2012 when Tim Murray-Browne, composer in residence at Music Hackspace, announced an open call to the community to join an experimental collective of musicians. Each would create an instrument that encapsulates their own identity and musical practice.
We adopted an experimental process of group improvisation, akin to a jam session stretched over many years. Each creating one instrument, we met regularly to share ideas, experiment, listen and discover what themes and ideas resonated. This process allowed musical roles to emerge organically without hierarchy or an authoritative vision.
Over the following five years, the ensemble evolved as we exhibited these evolving prototypes to international audiences and spaces, including the Barbican and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, 90dB Sonic Arts Festival in Rome, an Adidas shoe launch at Village Underground, London. We exhibited to entrpreneurs and policy makers at the Waterloo Innovation in Canada, and were subsequently invited to extend our stay to exhibit at a children’s museum.
These diverse audiences of over 5000 people created an ongoing dialogue between audience, artists and environment, allowing us to understand and evolve the work along the way. We’ve been continually surprised by the ways in which people interact with the instruments, as well as the variety of musical outputs. Often we’ll see spontaneous jams develop and the natural emergence of musical roles. Participants who don’t know each other will connect through interacting with Cave of Sounds – echoing the prehistoric collective music making practices that inspired the project.
In 2018, with funding from Arts Council England, we completed the project into a tourable installation format, recoding and re-engineering the technology, and building a bespoke sculptural form, all while retaining the musical experience that we had developed. We previewed this at Somerset House Studios with Music Hackspace on 11 January 2018.
Exhibition Team
All of the above have been supported in exhibiting Cave of Sounds by Jan Lee, Chrisanthi Livadiotis, Ben Koppelman, Kevin Blankenship, Mim Briggs, Javier Carles, Joshua Gardner, Georgia Grant, Ting-an Lin, Lia Mice, Sabrina Recoules, Florian Stagliano, Kasia Uscinska, Adriana Minu, Kevin Murray, Niall Black, James Gardner, Andrew Kirkby.
Photography is by Suzi Corker, Lucia Molina Pflaum and members of the Cave of Sounds team.
Partner Organisations
The Music Hackspace is a hub and focal point in London for those interested in subverting technology to create music. Established in 2011 as an offshoot of the London Hackspace, the group meet weekly to present projects, host performances of experimental music and exchange ideas and skills.
Sound and Music’s vision is to create a world where new music and sound prospers, transforming lives, challenging expectations and celebrating the work of its creators. Our work includes composer and artist support and development, partnerships with a range of organisations, live events and audience development, touring, information and advice, network building, and education. We champion new music and the work of British composers and artists, and seek to ensure that they are at the heart of cultural life and enjoyed by many.
Acknowledgements
Cave of Sounds was created through Sound and Music’s Embedded Composer in Residence programme with the Music Hackspace.
Sound and Music’s Embedded programme is funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation with support from Arts Council England.
The residency was mentored by Duncan Chapman and Atau Tanaka. Special thanks for support to Hannah Bujic, Susanna Eastburn and Nick Sherrard from Sound and Music, Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut and Martin Klang from the Music Hackspace, The Centre for Creative Collaboration, Troyganic and the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of London for providing creative working space, Mind The Film for producing the video of our work above, as well as Jenny Attwater and the many who provided insightful feedback on early prototypes of the work. Thanks also for help from Arthur Carabott, Sara, Tatjana, Juan, Andrew Robertson and Natalia Szcz.
Future developments were realised using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, in partnership with Music Hackspace and with support from Somerset House Studios.
This website was created using the Movement Alphabet theme created by Daniel Lopez and Tim Murray-Browne.
For booking enquiries, please email Tim Murray-Browne on hi {_art_} timmb {_dort_} com.
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