Basement Loop

 

2016

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Site-specific Improvised Sound Installation with Spontaneous Performances

Guitar amplifier with looper

Electro-acoustic guitar

1-volt vibrating motors

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Set in a basement cubbyhole, the work navigated sonic and physical space, incorporating aspects of musical improvisation and live performance.

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Cramped quarters used to produce atmospheric sound; it sought to draw a contrast between physical constraints and sonic limitlessness. The hole in the wall fills the acoustically reverberant underground space. Compositionally, sounds revolved around the idea of repetition as evolution through the utilisation of looping equipment, running for the full duration of 4 hours at different dynamic levels, with the same undulating backing track with moderate tweaks, dictated by the involvement or exclusion of the live performer.

 

The performer, coming in to rebalance volume, highs, mids or lows, and periodically adding in some melodic elements on the electro-acoustic guitar, is a spontaneous presence. The rig is left to run on its own while being attached to a vibrating motor triggering strings. Automated elements and manually activated ones function harmoniously in a system that is self-sustaining and also prone to disruption. 

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Shown at Casa Tomada (group exhibition) in a basement in London on 22nd of May 2016.