Sarah McCabe and I co-designed an immersive sound sculpture that we called SPACE/BOX. SPACE/BOX was designed as both a space for performance, and a constantly shifting indoor multi-sensory landscape. It was premiered at the APT Gallery in Deptford, London UK over the weekend that 2021 Concerts ran the Perceptions art festival.
For SPACE/BOX, we wanted to create a shifting, multi-sensory environment that could exist within the space of an art gallery. Every hour, SPACE/BOX transformed into a new environment, cycling between ‘Ocean’, ‘Winter’, and ‘Alien Landscape’ environments. This constantly shifting environment existed as an art piece on its own, while also creating a space for relaxation and performance. During the weekend exhibit, Sarah performed inside SPACE/BOX while the environment continued to be heard, seen, smelt, and felt around the music.
In order to create a complete multi-sensory environment, we brought together projected paintings, eight channel audio using field recordings, and planted an indoor garden of herbs mushrooms, and foraged wood and seashells. The projections were videos taken of me live painting each environment. Sarah's hand and brush could be seen on the side of SPACE/BOX from both inside and out, building up each environment, and then playing in reverse to gradually remove it in preparation for the next one. The sounds for each environment were recorded by me in Nova Scotia, the UK, and Sweden. For the space environment, these same sounds were processed to create a natural, but unearthly environment.
