Swinging Speakers

for 4 performers, audio and light.

Building on a concept from Canadian sound artist Gordon Monahan, Swinging Speakers emerges as an audio sculpture featuring four speakers attached to strings and swirled around the performer’s body in a circular motion, combined with mounted lights.
Endless circular movements transport oscillators that swing forward into space, condensing into choirs, breaking down into noise, and forming continuous interference waves.

Over a duration of 23 minutes, the limits of physically achievable performance become palpable. The performers’ endurance is directly linked to the length of the piece. The effort—sometimes painful—of the performers is very noticeable, yet it is essential for an optimal listening experience.

The countless oscillations of the speakers find their counterpart in periodic signals within the audio programming. The complex waveforms generated through additive synthesis and ring modulation are presented as a sonic construct that conveys the perceivable fundamental frequency of the vibration.
Digital and analog constructive and destructive interferences, fluttering effects—whose origins lie either in the frequency spectrum of the programmed oscillators or in the interaction between speakers and space—arise from this interplay.

An echolocation system that measures the reverberation and reflections within performance spaces, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in a sonic and spatial experience.

Concept: Gordon Monahan
Composition / Lighting: Johannes Werner