site + sound

McCLELLAND SCULPTURE GALLERY - MELBOURNE

The exhibition was designed as an immersive experience in which the audience could inhabit sound recordings of landscapes from around the world. The complex speaker system was housed in a 'forest' of three-dimensional structures that employed the geometries found in the nature with those of sound based cymatic patterns.

The design employed the use of two types of speaker housings that played different sonic roles in the space. The seed-like King structures held the larger omni-directional speakers and were clad in multiple layers of stretch fabric mesh that created an ephemeral cocoon-like form. The hyperboloid Queen forms produced a structurally strong and visually engaging enclosure that allowed the smaller speakers to be mounted from the top and bottom of the structures and be angled in different directions. The eliptical Pawn stools were wrapped in perforated patterned plywood skins. Their placement in the gallery defined resting and listening points as each location offered different visual and sonic experiences.

The speaker system was arranged to offer dynamic spatial compositions as the visitor moved through the sonic field. The individual forms would offer changing compositions and optical effects as one moved around the space, while the program of soundscapes transformed the gallery into vibrant natural ecologies. Ultimately, the installation created an immersive multisensory experience that brought together sound and vision as one traversed the space.

*Shortlisted - Australian Interior Design Excellence Awards, Event Design category, 2021