Doug Aitken
Sonic Pavillion, 2009Sonic Pavilion (2009) is an artwork developed for Inhotim based on a preexisting idea. Although it is an ambitious, complex work; it springs from a simple principle. A 200-meter-deep well was drilled into the ground and equipped with microphones to capture the sound of the Earth. By way of a sophisticated system of equalization and amplification, this sound is transmitted in real time inside an empty circular glass pavilion designed to creale equivalence between the experience of the sound and that of the space. It is hard to define precisely what we hear inside Sonic Pavilion: micro noises are generated within the Earth, but the huge cavity also creates a space for continuous reverberation, whose sound is transformed by the process of equalization. We hear a never-repeated pattern rich in frequencies and textures, recalling minimalist music such as Pendulum Music (1968), by Steve Reich, where the sound is generated by the movement of microphones in relation to the audio speakers. What Reich said about that piece could also serve as a definition of the always continuous, living and open process of Sonic Pavilion. “Once the process is setup and loaded it runs by itself.”
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