The Circulation of Fluids I — 2008/2009

Materials : wood, paper, speakers, amplifier, audio interface, MaxSonar, electronic, computer, MaxMSP.

Dimensions : 5,18 x 6 x 2,5 m

The Circulation of Fluids probes water’s resonance, this liquid body familiar mainly by vision and areal hearing, but whose subaqueous echos are still quite foreign to us. Freshwater, saltwater, utility or drinking water, it remains an integral part of our lives. Most of our planet is submerged and the human body is essentially made up of water. It also brings us back to the origins and intrauterine times when we were all swimming in a watery substrate. We come from fluids; we live at the rhythm of fluids. Listening to aquatic worlds unveils an ontological and social background whose potential metaphors we can explore through our aerial ears.

Water answers to its own spatiality; its own rhythm; its own forms.Water is duality; a high or low density mass, an environment with many comfort zones and as many shrouded in darkness. This liquid macrocosm, emblem of the unfathomable, appears as a silent abyss. But on the contrary, it harbours sonorities accessed only by “inner” hearing. The Circulation of Fluids is a sound installation madeup of paper horns of various sizes mounted to a wooden structure by intersecting stems, multiplying perspectives and horizons. Each horn is equipped with a loudspeaker, an amplifier channel and an ultrasound sensor. By his movements and wanderings throughout the space, the visitor activates and shapes the various subaqueous modulations captured by hydrophones (waterproof microphones). So, the closer he is to the audio source, the louder the sound level and conversely, the farther away, the lower the intensity. The sounds are dormant, waiting for the interlocutor to reveal themselves. They come and go, shaped by human mobility. The predominant feeling is one of an acoustic dive in an antrum of constantly changing fluid universe, revealing inaudible yet vaguely familiar worlds. The work acts as a network activated at different points is space; it is organic, relational, prompting dialogue between the attending elements — sounds, sculpture, visitor — who come together as a whole in its own right. Lines of force and listening paths are created, altered and replayed. From then on, multiple paths are possible, creating unpredictable yet intimist itineraries since the damp atmosphere of water is also conducive to a sensory and memory experience.

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Presentations

2011 AKA Gallery, Saskatoon (Sakatchewan)
2010 Musée Régional de la Côte-Nord, Sept-Iles (Québec)
2010 MM11 [ AHR.KI.TEK.TON.IK ], Québec (Québec)

MAX/msp programming interface

Sabin Hudon

Programming

Catherine Béchard & Sabin Hudon

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Text

Catherine Béchard

Translation

Kathryn Casault

Financial supports

Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec

Video

Catherine Béchard & Sabin Hudon

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Periodicals

2011 Moffat, Ellen, « The Circulations of Fluids », AKA Gallery, Saskatoon, 6P. (PP.1-6)
2011 Meagen, Thomas, « AKA Gallery to display interactive sound exhibit », Verb, Saskatoon, April 29th to May 5th, p.11
2010 Richard, Alain-Martin, « [AHR-KI-TEK-TON-IK] »,Inter Art Actuel no 106, Québec, p.90
2010 Le Nord-Est, Sept-Iles, November 3rd, p.23
2010 Dupont, Nicolas, « Une oeuvre pour tous les sens », Le Nord-Est, Sept-Iles, September 22nd, p.11