oroboros

OROBOROS

A sound installation for vocal samples, electronics, programming, and absorbent ambulatory listening bodies

A snake eating its own tail is one of the earliest recorded forms of feedback. Digesting oneself in an act of revolutionary consciousness, OROBOROS is an emotional and physical loop between input and output, self and other. Using acoustic and electronic feedback, the OROBOROS sound environment emulates the mechanism of the vocal system in any space, while also responding to the location and density of people.

Voice works through the activation of the vocal cords, which employ feedback elements to shape the sound and make it unique to the individual: mechanical resonance (to physically activate the vocal cords through the flesh and bones) and acoustic impedance (to control the pressure in the mouth and nose). These attributes are harnessed in the physical space of the installation venue with microphones and radio, which allows the room to become a giant mouth. The audience is in the throat of the snake, the digestion occuring inside listening minds.

Acoustic feedback sets up an active sonic environment, with ambient sound being amplified (such as audience sounds, traffic outside, etc) to the point of feedback. In this installation system, filters and digital processes are used to prevent uncontrollable extremes of the resonance, which results in stagnant tones and extreme sound pressure levels. Audience members become part of the metaphor, as their presence and location affects the sound of the room (and the sound in the room affects their presences and locations). By carefully placing microphones in the room and varying their volume and location in the speaker grid, one can cause a room to speak, hum, wail and roar.

Electronic feedback works with internal feedback circuits (that are merely amplified in order to be made audible). One can do this by sending a radio’s output to the input of a transmitter tuned to the same frequency. In this case, the oscillation depends upon the various components used in the construction (capacitors, resistors, etc), the volume of the signal sent to the transmitter, any outside signals that are added in, and any interference (such as the presence of people in the vicinity of the radios). The sound that results bear a sonic resemblance to digestion, as the distinctive qualities that go in are corroded by the circuit.