Vacant Space

Vacant Space is a commission by the Sonic Arts Network to create an immersive installation using sounds and images collected inside a wide variety of empty interiors. The life and space of architecture without human occupation. It embraces the context of the generic white gallery, by amplifying the void.

 

‍Sound is constantly present, whether we are there or not. Using recordings and panoramic photographs collected in a series of empty interiors around the world, the installation reveals and celebrates their life without us present. On entering, the gallery appears silent. Panoramic projections of unoccupied spaces merge and slide across one wall. Plugging headphones directly into the projection wall reveals random layers of amplified location recordings that influence the scrolling visuals in different ways. Three spaces are heard at once in an ever-changing composition, endlessly creating new places. There are still the occasional audible signs of people, but they are either outside of the room or just passing through - highlighting their absence. Sound travels around corners and through windows. Sound activates space, and space is essential for soundwaves to live out their lives.

The audio aspect of the project was initially inspired by my experience of travelling abroad to perform concerts. I usually end up sitting in various types of spaces & locations very late at night when the world had gone to sleep - listening to the qualities of each specific space and the sounds beyond it, just out of view. I started to record these situations.

 A typical cycle of the installation lasts for over half an hour and is continuously changing. Vacant Space is never the same twice.