THE WARM-UP
installation sonore interactive / 4 canaux / 2015
Silence. Then an instrument of an orchestra starts to warm up, and then a few more. Soon, all the instruments rehearse a few bars. A sound that is at once chaotic and melodic. The sound quietly approaches the instruments. We hear the subtle friction of the bow on the strings, the sound of fingers sliding on the strings, but also the creaking of chairs, the breathing, and the rubbing of clothes.
This is Warm-Up, an immersive sound installation focused on the chaotic sound emitted by an orchestra when the musicians warm up before they tune their instruments.
Warm-Up introduces the public into the intimate space between musician and instrument. Through this proximity, the installation becomes sensory, that is to say it strives to reach not only the ear of the listener, but also his sense of touch. And then the “La” is heard. All the instruments tune in. At the end of the loop, they are all in unison. It is a sound common to all orchestras, and yet it is never the same
Through this installation, Andrée-Anne Roussel wants to get the listener interested in this warm-up sound that could be perceived as ordinary –out of the musical range– but that holds a great harmony and in her opinion, a great capacity to move people. This sound also represents the very first contact with the orchestra during a concert. A sound that surprises us, prepares our ear to what will come and reveals the hall’s acoustics. To be interested in that sound is also to be interested in the resonance or timbre of the instruments, rather than in the composition they interpret or the melodies that emanate from them.
Project developed by the Canadian artist Andrée-Anne Roussel during her residence in the SoundLAB in the context of the agreement between LABoral and Avatar.
DIFFUSION
+ LABoral Centre de Arte, 2015 (Gijón, Espagne)
