WORK SOUND ABOUT CONTACT
In cooperation with the Jerusalem Panorama in Altötting Germany, Moritz Fehr has composed and built a multichannel sound-installation which was opened to the public in August of 2009. The installation has been specially constructed for the panoramic space and is set up permanently.The monumental cyclorama “Jerusalem Panorama” was painted in 1903 by Gebhard Fugel. It is Germany’s sole historic large-scale Panorama (approximately 12.917 sq ft / 95 x 12 meter).
The combination of a panorama painting with sound seems to be as obvious as much as audible elements are capable of supporting the illusionist effect established by the panoramic contraption. However, in the past, sound and noise have mostly been employed, or experimented within Panorama-related forms such as the Diorama and the Moving Panorama. Nowadays, some Panoramas do include sounds, mostly to illustrate the visually given elements.The idea of this work is to use sound as an independent element and by this exceed the limits of its function as a mere supplementary background noise. It is not intended to illustrate the given visual impression of the Panorama, but to broaden the perception of the illusionistic Medium through spatial sound and therefore enhance the immersive experience.
The composition is playing in a cycle of 30 minutes through an array of 16 speakers. Eight of these speakers are projecting the sound onto the large canvas of the panorama which is reflected back to the visitor platform. Other speakers are hidden in the faux terrain of the panorama, the artificial scenery in front of the painting. Some sections of the composition make use of the Ambisonics technique to create a spatial impression of sounds appearing in distance and subtle movement.Materials used for the composition are mostly field-recordings and computer-edited “sound colors” of a recorded church organ. The different layers of shifting and moving sound create a soundscape that the visitor accepts to be “real” in connection with the visual impression. But at the same time it is perceived as “artificial” referring to the sounds (sound colors) that accentuate distinct layers of the panoramic space or highlight different sections of the painting.
This project was technically supported by the Studio for electroacoustic Music (SeaM - Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar) and made possible through generous funding by: Streicher & Streicher Stifter, Bayrisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Kunstfonds Bayern, Wallfahrtsstadt Altötting, Sparkasse Altötting-Mühldorf, Bezirk Oberbayern Heimatpflege, Kulturfonds Landkreis Altötting.Technical assistence: Peter Prautzsch.
www.panorama-altoetting.de
Shortened, condensed excerpt (Stereo Mix):
Model, Weimar 2009
Small speaker in faux terrain
Speaker Positions