September 1st

 

75 people were invited to an event in Cape Town, but were told nothing about what would happen that night, only that they were to be ready at 7pm on the 1st of September. At that time, drivers arrived at their houses, had the participants sign indemnity forms, blindfolded them and took them, by car, through the city to an undisclosed location. Given no information, and sworn to silence, secrecy and blindfolded at all times, the participants were led through a series of lifts and passageways until they were seated in a room and experienced a sound concert performed, unbeknownst to them, by Francisco López. Just before the concert concluded, the audience were led out of the venue and back to the driver’s cars, and driven back to their respective homes. Back home they were un-masked and told nothing of what went on that evening.

Saturday night can be the loneliest place on earth

 

In March 2005 I hacked into the parking lot public address system of Space World, a large aeronautical theme park in Yahata, Japan, interrupting their Muzak with a 6-second transmission of live ionosphere atmospherics so that Space World could, on a lonely Saturday night, receive an actual message from space.

Oslo Airport

The existing sound sculptures scattered throughout the Oslo airport demand a radical invasion. Having experienced these sculptures for the past three years during periods of transit, the total dullness of their usage and ongoing evolution sets the sonic heart careening into desiring leaps for deeper imaginative manifestations. Spraying out as “sound showers”, the sculptures reproduce an ongoing banality of birdsongs, water sounds, and whispering voices, with the intention of relaxing and stimulating the weary traveller, creating pools of private soundscapes that cascade down in a replay of clichéd renderings that in turn remain static for future listenings. From this perspective it becomes imperative to introduce a series of alternatives, to supplement the already existing counter-promise of the work itself, whereby the rather overlooked and underused sculptures can truly activate the listener and the poetical space of the airport.

Intervention notes:
1. hack playback system and channel in NASA ionosphere recordings, creating dialogue between the airport and the material substance of the atmosphere
2. introduce a series of inputs into the sculpture for visitors to access and activate (kids would love it!), turning the sculptures into private musical machines
3. link up sculptures so as to extend the notion of soundscape toward a broader range, where each sculpture would playback live feeds from around the airport (restricted zones, such as the baggage retrieval areas, etc.), or from other airports around the globe
4. sell tickets to the sculptures and promote as an amusement ride (provide a chair)
5. turn into ambient advertisements promoting non-visual products
6. further inputs: connect to a series of mobile phone numbers and allow callers to upload sounds for immediate playback (leave messages for friends, travellers, secret agents, etc); supplement with a web-site for global reach
7. renovate sculptures so as to make them wireless and mobile, enabling visitors to move the sculptures around the airport
8. paint sculptures pink
9. playback soundtracks from films or TV sitcoms with revised components: new characters, voices, sound sources, altered musical soundtracks
10. turn into erotic jukeboxes where you can select the voice of your deepest desire (develop series of parameters)