Space Dystopia
(2021)
Sofía Balbontín
Space Dystopia by Sofía Balbontín explores the sound-space as a flexible, malleable and invisible material within the acoustics of impossible architectures and imaginary spaces that exceed the limits of built reality.
The project uses the concept of sound-space as a sequence of spatial sensations or a series of temporal events, where space unfolds in time. Colloquially, the term "space" refers to a physical and static condition that encapsulates a dimension of matter. However, if we go to its origins, the term “space”, which comes from the Latin “spatium”, incorporates a temporal variable within the concept. According to the space-time interval, the “spatium” is conditioned by a movement, a relational dynamic between the matter that defines the space, the matter that contains the space and the matter that frequents the space, that intervenes it and receives it. When matter is affected by sound, a new dimension of space appears: the sound-space.
The sound-space is capable of revealing the sound phenomenon using the body as a communication channel that expresses the interactions with space when it is revealed by perception. In this sense, Space Dystopia is the creation of an experience that is part of a phenomenological process that explores the acoustic principles of spaces built only by the perception of their sounds. In this process, attentive listening becomes fundamental to evoke the spirit of a series of dystopian spaces through the personal interpretation of this expanded reality. By directing our attention not only to sounds, but also to the inner action of perception we are able to reach spaces that exceed the limits of physical possibilities.
During her time in the Spatial Sound Institute the artist developed a narrative process of unfolding spaces within spaces, pushing the limits of the 4DSOUND System in terms of spatialization of sound through movement . The raw materials used by the arist were impulse responses collected inside industrial spaces with exacerbated acoustics and digitally created impulse responses , merging one into the other using convolution reverbs and 4DSOUND SpatialVerb, the result of which becomes a journey that trespasses through different mutations and dissolves the boundaries of physical spaces into liquid spaces of utopian and dystopian scenarios.
The project uses the concept of sound-space as a sequence of spatial sensations or a series of temporal events, where space unfolds in time. Colloquially, the term "space" refers to a physical and static condition that encapsulates a dimension of matter. However, if we go to its origins, the term “space”, which comes from the Latin “spatium”, incorporates a temporal variable within the concept. According to the space-time interval, the “spatium” is conditioned by a movement, a relational dynamic between the matter that defines the space, the matter that contains the space and the matter that frequents the space, that intervenes it and receives it. When matter is affected by sound, a new dimension of space appears: the sound-space.
The sound-space is capable of revealing the sound phenomenon using the body as a communication channel that expresses the interactions with space when it is revealed by perception. In this sense, Space Dystopia is the creation of an experience that is part of a phenomenological process that explores the acoustic principles of spaces built only by the perception of their sounds. In this process, attentive listening becomes fundamental to evoke the spirit of a series of dystopian spaces through the personal interpretation of this expanded reality. By directing our attention not only to sounds, but also to the inner action of perception we are able to reach spaces that exceed the limits of physical possibilities.
During her time in the Spatial Sound Institute the artist developed a narrative process of unfolding spaces within spaces, pushing the limits of the 4DSOUND System in terms of spatialization of sound through movement . The raw materials used by the arist were impulse responses collected inside industrial spaces with exacerbated acoustics and digitally created impulse responses , merging one into the other using convolution reverbs and 4DSOUND SpatialVerb, the result of which becomes a journey that trespasses through different mutations and dissolves the boundaries of physical spaces into liquid spaces of utopian and dystopian scenarios.
This project was made possible with funding from:
Fondos Cultura, Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio, Chile
Related:
Schema(2018-2019)
Superposition(2018-2019)