Sound art installations

Examples of sound art or music installations by artists and/or architects etc. Both indoor and outdoor locations, and including electronic and multimedia installations, as well as acoustic installations.

14 Pins

13y

Alec Child's Play Music

there are two pictures of an outdoor area with umbrellas and other things on the ground

The hospital with a lullaby factory

Lullaby Factory. Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London features a series of steampunk-style pipes that snake around the shell of the building, like something out of a daydream or a Roald Dahl style children’s story. The lullabies can be heard either by tuning in to a specific radio frequency, or by angling your ears towards the building’s ‘listening pipes’. Pinned by Alec of http://childsplaymusic.com.au/

a large metal sculpture sitting on top of a dirt field next to a green hillside

Tree Crown

Incredible Architecture

Mixed Media Sculpture

Singing Ringing Tree

Mid Pennine Arts | Panopticons - Singing Ringing Tree. "The Singing Ringing Tree is aptly named. A 3-meter-tall, wind-powered musical sculpture made of galvanized steel pipes, it stands high above the English town of Burnley, Lancashire. The pipes swirl to form the shape of a tree bent and blown by the wind, and produce an eerie, melodious hum as the constant wind on Crown Point drifts through them." Pinned by Alec of http://childsplaymusic.com.au/

Interactive Sculpture

Interactive Installation

Sculpture Garden

Music Box at the Figment Interactive Sculpture Garden, Governors Island, New York. "This giant music box serves as a monument where people can see and feel the physicality of music. With two barrels and two cranks, it encourages friends or perfect strangers to harmonize together in rich steel reverberations." Pinned by Alec of http://childsplaymusic.com.au/

an arch made out of metal sitting on the side of a hill next to a river

Musical Playground

Aeolian Harp

Lewiston Ny

Making Musical Instruments

An Aeolian Harp with 60 stainless steel strings tensioned by a laminated wood arc. Wind vibrates the strings to create changing harmonics. Lewiston, NY, 1981. Originally Pinned by Alec Duncan of http://childsplaymusic.com.au/

two girls are playing with an object in the park

The Hydraulophone: Invention of a new musical instrument

Video of several Hydraulophones (water powered organs). Weird! You can play real music on them - Pachelbel's Canon, Beethoven's 5th, and Summertime all get an airing. I didn't know whether to put this in Playground Musical Instruments or Sound Art Installations - so I've Pinned it in both :)

a woman wearing headphones holding a box

Words

A Soundart installation by greyworld. “Words” is an installation commissioned by the BBC for the Free thinking Festival, in Gateshead, UK. It was also shown at the Instituto Europeo di Design in Rome. Visitors to the installation space are requested to think of a word. Any word at all. They are handed a white cube, which they hold. As they speak their word in to the box, the box begins to glow with a gentle blue light. They are then invited to explore what appears to be a large empty space, delineated by a red line around its edges. As they wander off in to this area they realise that in fact, invisible to the eye, there is a rich sonic environment to explore, full of words that are nestling amongst trees, flitting around pools of water, or hiding out in caves. Some of these words live here permanently, and some have been dropped by people walking through the space. If the visitor wants to do this, they simply tip over their box, the light drains away, and their word falls out, living in that area for several hours, for others to discover.. When they are done, they return the box, to be filled by another word. Thanks to Wendy Seymour for drawing my attention to greyworld. I was unable to pin the video of this installation.

a man standing in the middle of a garden with a circular structure on top of it

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Playground

A Soundart installation by greyworld. Visitors to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park come across an area, partially secluded that seems to be a forgotten place. What appears to be the remains of a playing field is still visible through the overgrown grass. As people explore this area they unlock the ghostly sound of past sporting activity. It is not clear what kind of game was played here. As they move across the warped wooden floor of the playground the sounds of the players, their encouragement

a woman is walking down the sidewalk with a stick in her hand and she's holding onto a fence

Railings

Greyworld tuned these railing so that when you ran a stick along them they played "The Girl from Ipanema". Created without permissions in cities around Europe, many versions have disappeared. Thanks to Wendy Seymour for drawing my attention to greyworld.

an older man with headphones on and holding a stick in his hand while standing next to other people

Sound Forest

Hills Harp - a Hills Hoist washing line strung with tuned wires to which you listen through the plumbed-in headphones. Built by Dave Murphy for Lynsey Pollak's Sound Forest installation, Brisbane, 2003

several people are standing around looking at items on a table that is lined up in rows

Brown Note

Rhythmic Pattern

Sound Forest

I think this is a spoonaphone - if so, it uses spoon-shaped wooden pieces that are clamped and tuned, and held above resonator tubes. You hit the spoons and the sound is described as "warm and breathy" and works similar to a kalimba. Made by Dave Murphy for Lynsey Pollak's sound installation Brisbane 2003.