installation view:  Ethnographic Department of the National Museum Gdansk (PL)  2019

The sound installation 0.X (zero point X) was designed for the exhibition Dzwieki Pierwotne (Primal Sound) in the Ethnographic Museum in Gdansk (PL).

A piano string is suspended between two pillars. A wooden resonance body, standing on the exact middle of the string and being suspended down towards a cube of red bricks.

The string is activated by a feedback-loop. At one side of the string, a electromagnetic picup records the string vibration and sends it through an array of guitar-effects (two compressors, flanger, chorus and equilizer) and amplifiers (pre-amplification and power-amp) to a tactile loudspeaker, which is fixed to the mounting brackets at the other side of the string. The installation is triggert by a motoin-control sensor.

The title 0.X refers to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who first described the mathematics behind musical harmonies. The term "Pythagorean Comma" is still used in music theory today to describe the mathematical difference between "well-tempered" and "pure intonation" tuning systems.

The resonance chamber is constructed in the shape of an truncated icosahedron, a form described by Archimedes.

The cube that functions as a counterweight for the resonance chamber, is constructed from red brick, which is the most traditional building material in Gdansk.

The sound produced by the installation is a  constant ringing of various overtones of the string.

The modulation between the overtones is archieved with the settings on the guitar effets. The sound reminds of seagulls or the resonance of ringing churchbells in narrow streets (yet not as loud). Both sounds are typical for the soundscape of Gdansk.

The yellow shape on the ground is part of the overall exhibition-design.

Dzwieki Pierwotne, Ethnographic Department of the National Museum Gdansk (PL)

Curated by: Anna Ratajczak-Krajka, Krystyna Weiher-Sitkiewicz, Waldemar Elwart

Exhibition design: Grupa Gdyby

The installation in details