IKO UK series – sound {space} + image

IKO UK series winter 2019

in winter 2019 the IKO loudspeaker array came to the UK, for the first time. Gerriet K. Sharma (www.gksh.net) and I presented a range of concerts, workshops and lectures to introduce our work, and the speaker itself, whose presence impacts keenly on the compositional process.

There is no substitute for hearing IKO.

None.

Many came along to experience the affect – sonic, spatial and artistic – directly.

8 + 9 November – London – Soundstack – Queen Mary Uni London – Mile End Campus – www.angelamcarthur.com/soundstack-2019

Projections of a shared Now – Approaching Sound as Space using the IKO loudspeaker.

In electroacoustic composition, spatial computer music, 3D audio systems and auditory virtual environments, we deal with spatial sound phenomena and spatial dimensions like proliferation, width, height etc. Sound masses as phenomena are perceived by composers, scientists and audiences causing ‘something’ we call a shared perceptual space (SPS). In two sessions and a recital we are going to introduce practical and theoretical research results from the past 10 years working with the IKO, to develop a basic understanding of verbalization and sculpturality in so called immersive environments. By this we want to foster further uses of the term SPS in a variety of fields as aesthetic strategies.

21 November – Guildford – University of Surrey – Stag Hill Campus – https://www.surrey.ac.uk/events/20191121-instrumentality-spatial-sound-icosahedral-loudspeaker-iko

Instrumentality in spatial sound with the icosahedral loudspeaker ( IKO ). Gerriet K. Sharma and Angela McArthur introduce the IKO icosahedral loudspeaker; which inverts outside-inside spatial sound phenomena, creating a compelling and unique sound experience. They will explore its affect on the compositional process. A concert of works composed specifically for the IKO will follow.

29 November – London – London South Bank University https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/artistic-research-with-the-iko-speaker-system-theory-and-praxis-for-sound-tickets-82583402179

www.facebook.com/events/1058396141177196

Artistic research with the IKO – theory and praxis for sound sculpting. Gerriet K. Sharma and Angela McArthur highlight key learning points in their research and practice working for over 10 years with the IKO icosahedral loudspeaker array. Unusually, this system uses beamforming, producing phantom sound sources on the surfaces of the performance space. By this, sculptural sound phenomena can be produced and experienced. Unlike most so called immersive loudspeaker arrays, the IKO does not encircle its audience, which causes a very different listening and staging situation. In this way, a whole new way of orchestrating different architectonic spaces comes into play. However, this is only the start of the ways in which it develops and challenges the compositional process, as well as one’s thinking and perception about sound as space.

4 December – London – Loudspeaker Orchestra – University of Greenwich – www.facebook.com/events/755975064833529

Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert. Gerriet K. Sharma and Angela McArthur present a concert of works composed for the IKO icosahedral loudspeaker. It uniquely inverts outside-inside spatial sound phenomena, creating a compelling sound experience.

7 December – London – Innovation in Music Conference https://www.inmusicconference.com/

Fluid Architectures and Aural Sculpturality – Towards an Aesthetic of Sonic Spatiotemporal Environments. What might it mean to design environments with sound as a design parameter, using loudspeakers? Why should we care? How could sound practices aid us here? This presentation addresses such questions, and highlights examples from the speakers’ practices over 10 years working in the field, with the IKO icosahedral and other loudspeaker arrays, as well as with virtual loudspeakers in artificial environments. They will discuss the impact of working with the IKO in different spaces, and how this informed their relationship to space, virtual or ‘real’. A concert of works composed specifically for the IKO will follow.

11 December – London – Sound of Space Symposium – UCL Here East – https://www.soundspacegroup.com/

13 December – Newcastle – Northumbria University

Shared Perceptual Spaces in Sciences and the Arts. Cross-disciplinary workshop, lecture and concert. For the composer, a communicable or self-explanatory composition of plastic sound objects is conceptually, theoretically and practically useful when faced with changing architectural space/ cultural descriptions of space/ spatial perceptions. Agreeing parameters for such an intersubjective space is key. Where does the composer’s perception in the compositional process overlap with both the engineer’s and audience’s? How and from which sides (linguistic, technical, artistic, etc.) can this field be approached? In this cross-disciplinary workshop and lecture we are going to investigate different uses of the term SPS in a variety of fields as aesthetic strategies, showing that space has become one of the key aspects in all kinds of scientific and artistic, applied and theoretical disciplines. By discussing examples from music, musicology, sociology, philosophy, architecture and linguistics we are trying to extract variables that can help to formulate a perception based framework for a hybrid model of sound as space.

Gerriet K. Sharma is a composer and sound artist. Within the last 15 years he was deeply involved in spatialization of electroacoustic compositions in Ambisonics and Wave-Field Synthesis and transformation into 3D-sound sculptures. From 2009 to 2015 he was curator of “signale-graz” concert series for electroacoustic music, algorithmic composition, radio art and performance at the MUMUTH Graz. His works have been presented at various venues and events worldwide, including Compositions for the icosahedral loudspeaker (IKO) and loudspeaker hemisphere where presented at Darmstädter Summer Courses 2014, Music Biennale Zagreb 2015, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2009/16, and Sound and Music Conference (SMC) Hamburg 2016.

He has received numerous awards and grants including Scholarships by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in 2007 and 2009. In 2008 he was awarded with the German Sound Art Award. In spring 2014 he was composer in residence at ZKM Karlsruhe/Germany. He was senior researcher and composer within the three year artistic research project “Orchestrating Space by Icosahedral Loudspeaker” (OSIL) funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) with 40 publications, over 20 lectures and 12 internationally premiered compositions. He had been appointed as DAAD Edgard Varèse guest-professor at Electronic Music Studio, Audio communication (AK), TU Berlin for WS 2017/18. Since 2019 he is working on a book on „spatial practices“ and new compositions, exhibitions and a lecture series.

In April 2019 ZKM Karlsruhe published his booklet “Aural Sculpturality – Spatio-Temporal Phenomena within Auditive Media Techniques“

www.zkm.de/en/publication/aural-sculpturality-spatio-temporal-phenomena-within-auditive-media-techniques

Angela McArthur is artist-in-residence at the Institut für Elektronische Musik (IEM) in Graz. She is a practitioner and PhD candidate, researching the aesthetics of distance in spatial sound for immersive environments.

She’s worked in studio, live and location environments, and her work draws from the technologies, perception and art of spatial sound, to tackle an intersection of the three.

She draws from eco-feminist discourse about the natural environment, and non-human ontologies. She is currently focused on spatial listening as aesthetic practice.

She co-produced a Sheffield Docfest-shortlisted VR film in 2017, is working with a US-based geo-scientist’s infrasonic sound for an upcoming installation, and has had recent exhibits at Ars Electronica (in collaboration with the BBC), and Tate Modern (in collaboration with Nathaniel Mann).