Sphere Packing
Subsculpture 15
"Sphere Packing" is a series of 3D-printed pieces designed to concentrate the entire musical production of a composer in a single dense multi-channel device. The size of each sphere is directly proportional to how prolific the composer was, for example the sphere for Johann Sebastian Bach has 48 cm diameter and holds 1100 loudspeakers playing simultaneously Bach's 1100 different compositions, while the sphere for Hildegaard Von Bingen only has 11 cm diameter and 69 loudspeakers. The project presents at a glance the comparative production volume of many composers. As people are a couple metres away from a sphere they hear a quiet murmur of sounds, but as they approach and put their ear up close to individual speakers they can hone in on specific compositions. The series is inspired by American composer Charles Ives' practice of simultaneity as a compositional tool.
Technically, a set of custom-made circuit boards allow the simultaneous playback of thousands of separate sound channels. The spheres are modeled algorithmically and then 3D printed in different materials depending on the composer. Each piece is suspended from a small playback box which is hung from the ceiling of the exhibition space. The piece begins playback immediately upon powering the box with 110 or 220V power. A small remote control allows the curator or collector to set an appropriate volume for the piece, although the piece is very quiet by its very design, even at its maximum volume a sphere produces a din that can be heard from about a 3 m radius. To discern individual compositions the public must be right beside a sphere, 5 cm away.
The recordings used are either in the public domain or legally purchased for the piece. Mitigating copyright concerns is that the volume of each track is extremely quiet and that a track can only be heard in the context of the other music being played-back.
General info
Ludwig van Beethoven
John Cage
Henryk Górecki
Charles Ives
György Ligeti
Gustav Mahler
Claudio Monteverdi
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Luigi Nono
Franz Schubert
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Hildegard Von Bingen
Richard Wagner
Constellation of 5 composers
Constellation of 17 composers
Exhibitions
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Recent Works, Arsenal Art Contemporain Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2020 - 2021.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Presencia Inestable, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, México, 2019 - 2020.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Unstable Presence, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2018.
- Soundtracks, SFMOMA, San Francisco, California, United States, 2017 - 2018.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Transition States, Gund Gallery, Gambier, Ohio, United States, 2016 - 2017.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pseudomatismos, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, México, 2015 - 2016.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Polynomials, Art Bärtschi & Cie, Genève, Switzerland, 2015.
- Untitled Art Fair, Galería Max Estrella, Miami, Florida, United States, 2014.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Obra Sonora, Carroll / Fletcher Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2014.
- Art Basel 45, Galería OMR, Basel, Switzerland, 2014.
- Art Dubai, Carroll / Fletcher Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2014.
- ARCO '14, Galería Max Estrella, Carroll / Fletcher Gallery, Madrid, Spain, 2014.
- Everybody is Nobody for Somebody from the Kulczyk Collection, Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid, Spain, 2014.
Credits
- Jordan Parsons - Programming and hardware
- Stephan Schulz, Claudia Espinosa, Orion Szydel, Julie Bourgeois, Karine Charbonneau, Pierre Fournier, Carolina Murillo-Morales, Sergio Clavijo - Production support
Bibliography
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Pseudomatisms", E-flux, New York City, New York, United States, October 29th 2015 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Website)
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