interactive + adaptive site specific sound instalation

As part of the Matera European Capital of Culture 2019 program, the LOXOSconcept association and the Matera Basilicata 2019 Foundation present the most important part of the sound art project IN ViTRØ – artificial sonification: the sound installation Echi d’acqua (Echoes of Water) in the Palombaro Lungo of Matera, created with the CRM – Musical Research Center.

The presence of water, the architectural forms, the geometry of the path, the perceptual impact of the masonry and color, the suggestion of acoustic reflection phenomena, and the delicate designs of light inspired the work of five composers - Laura Bianchini, Giulio Colangelo, Alessio Gabriele, Silvia Lanzalone, and Michelangelo Lupone - to create an artistic journey that enhances the relationship between vision and hearing, space and sound, encouraging an emotional participation from the visitor that allows the rediscovery of the place’s characteristics, renewed and magnified compared to its original function. The temporal unfolding of the music in the various installations, disseminated by special electroacoustic systems, emphasizing the heterogeneity of the spaces, also allows for the actualization and reinvention of perceptual memory, thereby renewing the historical memory of the place.
The narrative thus proceeds through five stages, each characterized by a specific sound installation, musical composition, and lighting setting. Five composers, with different stylistic and aesthetic peculiarities, create listening moments characterized expressively by heterogeneous types of musical materials in rhythm, timbre, and frequencies.
Each area is characterized by a different mode of sound diffusion that uses specific technologies designed by Michelangelo Lupone and developed at CRM according to the criteria of the "Theater of Listening." The concept of "Theater of Listening" places sound at the center of perceptual and expressive attention, integrating the results of acoustic and psychoacoustic research with the aesthetic aspects of electronic and instrumental musical language, and materializes in functional installation, art, and performance. The characterization of the architectural space starting from its acoustic properties, the use of different sound radiation techniques, the dynamic control of trajectories, sound localization, and reflections through specific technologies, allow for an expanded enjoyment of contemporary music and appreciation of its expressive nuances.