“Requiem Between a Barrel and a Heart”
Additive sound installation and radio broadcast
(instrumental samples and voice recordings on fixed media, FM radio transmitters and transistor radios, yarn, and 50cal bullets)
infinite duration, 2022
Pedram Baldari and Marco Buongiorno Nardelli, CURRENTS NEW MEDIA FESTIVAL: CIRCUITS, Santa Fe, NM
“Requiem Between a Barrel and a Heart” carries the essence of my ongoing projects “Variations Of Sounds Traveling Between a Barrel and a Heart”, “Radio Rhizome line 3”, “Radio Rhizome Weisman”, and “Radio Rhizome line 5.” In collaboration with Marco B. Nardelli, utilizing wind instruments developed from decommissioned rifles, this sound installation was created. These instruments provide the fabric of the installation, giving a sonic gestural background to voices that count a series of numbers in correspondence to the number of victims of gun violence and war across the globe.
The installation combines the evocative power of the sound of the gun barrel wind instruments within a complex performance framework: it comprises of a multichannel audio system generated and controlled by a Python score running on a Raspberry Pi, four active speakers for the performance of the wind instruments background, four FM radio transmitter and 12 battery-powered transistor radios for the broadcast of the voices and other instrumental interludes.
The radios are suspended using waxed yarn from the ceiling, which allows for the suspension of up to 200g of weight. Three strings, arranged in a triangular manner, meet at the center of an upside-down pyramid, which continues as a single string to suspend a radio from its antenna. The radio is weighted down by a 50-caliber Bullet Projectile, which is connected to the radio utilizing the same yarn and eye hook implanted inside the projectile. These projectiles work as plumb bobs, keeping the piece at a perpendicular angle to the floor.
This installation will enable ear-level/eye-level interaction with the sound sources of the radios, generating a sense of intimacy and intensity due to their suspended position and their interaction with the floor of the exhibition space. This will enable the work to be more cohesive in both its visual form and auditory content throughout the installation space and time.
The same audio material is simultaneously broadcast as a radio work ; in this, the choice of radio transmission serves as both a medium and a metaphor, envisioning a flexible yet resilient and mobile engagement that extends well beyond the walls of the performance hall or broadcasting studio.
Moreover, the installation, and thus the broadcast, is additive, in that visitors to the installation will be invited to contribute to the performance by adding their voices to the mix: by following the QR code below on their mobile phones, participants are directed to a webpage where they will find both text (a count out of an ever-increasing series of numbers) and the performance directions (in simple, non-musical terms). They will then be asked to record their interpretation using any of their audio recorders on their phones and send it to a specific email address. To avoid “contamination” from spurious or faulty recordings, the files will be curated before being added to the general pool. These contributions will be played through the radios and will complement the performance broadcast through the active speakers, creating a multi-layered, immersive, and ever-changing sound environment that develops as an experiment in cooperative, complexity-motivated musical creation.