July 2023

This demo presents the research-creation work of Christophe Lengelé, [postdoctoral student member, UQAM], and more specifically his residency focused on the dissemination and evaluation of a sound creation and spatialization tool. This free tool is designed to facilitate the improvisation of electronic music on multiple loudspeakers. This research, which questions ways of combining rhythmic and spatial parameters, builds on the concept of ‘open’ works, both in terms of form and open-source code.

This project addresses a number of research topics, including new ways of interacting with and controlling dozens or hundreds of sound objects within the space created by loudspeakers:

• How can we connect and correlate the temporal, spectral and spatial parameters of a multitude of sounds simultaneously, in order to create and modulate a rhythmic space in real time?

• How can we combine and variegate different types of spatialization (rhythmic / frequential – static / mobile – global or homogeneous / heterogeneous, contrasting and enhancing different loudspeakers)?

The answers to these questions can be found in the project wiki, available on Github, which is documented and updated as this research on spatiality progresses.

This presentation integrated:

• a participatory and performative installation on the theme of loneliness, so that the public can play and experiment with the prepared tool;

• and a workshop in sound immersion and spatialization, so that participants can appropriate free, open-source tools for creating and improvising with space.

• More on the performative installation

  The participative and performative installation took place around the theme of solitude, so that the public could appropriate and play with the prepared tool, drawing in particular on works by electroacoustic composers Bernard Parmegiani (Dante’s Inferno, De Natura Sonorum, Rêveries) and Francis Dhomont (Sous le regard d’un soleil noir). Short performances of 5 to 10 minutes were created by Lengelé, who recomposed the willing participants’ sound material in space, much like a spatial DJ tinkering with playback speeds. The rest of the time, the tool was set in automatic or random mode, and there was an exchange with the audience, who could experiment in real time with controlling the parameters of multiple sound objects in space via several physical and tactile interfaces.

  This participatory performance installation open to the public took place on Friday May 12 from 7pm to 10pm and on Sunday May 14 from 3pm to 6pm.

  Here are some excerpts:

• A look back at the workshop

  The aim of the immersion and spatialization workshop was to enable participants to acquire tools for creating their own spatialized creations, and even their own open-source sound tools via the Live 4 Life tool on the SuperCollider platform.

  This workshop on spatialized sound creation and improvisation with Live 4 Life took place on Saturday May 13 from 10am to 5:30pm in the Mezzanine of the Agora in the Coeur des Sciences. The workshop also provided an opportunity to gather information via questionnaires evaluating the performance tool and the spatial preferences of participants. Following their analysis, these data will soon be used in a research article.

  

  

  The ultimate aim of this installation/training is similar to that of Feda Wardak, creator of plastic architectural installations in public space, in that it consists in “rendering the process visible, so that people can understand how it (spatial improvisation with the Live 4 Life tool) works, and get to grips with it, thus reclaiming the commons.”

Christophe wishes to thank the financial support of the FRQSC, its research director Philippe-Aubert Gauthier [co-investigator member, UQAM], Gabrielle Couillard [student member, UQAM], and the entire Hexagram team for their assistance throughout this residency. 

Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)