with Ginger Fan
41 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
May 6 – 10, 2024
Amerimax gutter downspouts are connected to form two lines that join at one end. Sponges are stacked underneath two regions on each side of the pipe to absorb shock between the aluminum and the floor while allowing them to bow and resonate freely at their centerpoints. Two contact microphones observe the vibration of the surface of the aluminum downspouts on each side of the triangulation. The microphones are plugged into a mixer, and the two signals are panned out to a pair of stereo computer speakers. Each side of the pipe is mixed to isolate either a mid-range or low-range frequency, based on the natural acoustic resonance of the feedback being produced. The signals are only being steered by the relative levels of their resonant frequencies (EQs and levels). No effects (like reverb, delay, pitch shift, or detune) are being imposed. The signals compound exponentially within the pipe due to vibration being pumped back into itself; the effect is a feedback loop. Continue reading catalog text
Listen
Due to the triangulated movement of air within the pipe structure, the breaching point between the feedback from one side to the other exists in the center tension. Although the structure houses two unilateral feedback outputs, these two signals will eventually meet, becoming a ceaseless, conglomerate drone. Once the frequencies of one side of the pipe trespass the elbow joint, leaking into the other side, a vibrational equilibrium settles. This coalescence can most clearly be heard when the mixing levels are being actively adjusted, as the output range of both signals are constantly shifting in a state of “tuning”.
Acoustics are rife with linearity. A system is considered linear if the equations that govern it follow the simple rule that the sum of the inputs to the system yields the sum of the outputs. When a signal is pushed to high amplitudes, distortion may be encountered yielding in an altered waveform and added harmonics. The sound-transmission process in the ear itself is characterized by nonlinear distortion at high sound intensities as hair cells within the inner ear have a tendency to process sound nonlinearly, even when the original sound wave is “clean”.
Hearing exists relative to one’s subjective cognitive and aural system as language exists as one’s adaptation to reality. Sonic phenomena explained within the scientific branch of physics exists as the system of language to describe the dynamics that persist within this technical facility, but is not necessary to internalize for any sense of a genuine encounter with sound. The language exists as an expansion of observation and a means to identify what will always remain ubiquitous and mystical in the vibrating world.