In Orchestra Of The Tactile, one speaker amplifies the 16mm film soundtrack to Wings and Things while a second speaker amplifies a contact microphone attached to the film projector. A microphone machine spins in front of each speaker, operated using speed control foot pedals. The sounds picked up by these turning shotgun microphones feed into VibraFusion Lab’s audio-tactile system as audience members experience the sound through VibraFusion’s sound-as-vibration seating and/or by wandering through the Music Gallery, listening from any perspective.
The film Wings and Things was directed by Robin Lehman with the soundscore and editing by Michel Fano and Jacqueline Lecompte.
Visual cues from the film were used for composing the microphones’ movements.
Wings and Things was found in a pile of obscure films donated by the Mississauga Library System to LOMAA (London Ontario Media Arts Association) who shared a workspace with VibraFusion Lab.
See InterAccess Gallery’s Orchestra of the Tactile at The Music Gallery April 23rd, 2015.
Exhibition and Performance History: 2017 Avatar (Quebec City, Canada); 2015 Errant Bodies Sound Art Space (Berlin, Germany)
See also: Count and Strike and Spin, Spincycle
