Expansion (2021–2024, variable duration) is an immersive sound performance for amplified ice blocks and sound spatialization, commissioned by and performed with Architek Percussion. In 2024, an audience improvisation workshop was added after the performance for Embodied Spaces, a performance series at PHI (Montréal, Canada).
Expansion is an immersive and participatory experience, at the crossroads between art and technology, which questions the relationship between nature and human beings. In this performance, blocks of ice become sound instruments.
Expansion embodies the tension between the human desire for control and the unpredictability of nature, through ice, a material with unpredictable acoustic, physical, and visual qualities, capable of creating unique and fascinating sounds.
The blocks contain microphones, whose sound is played through speakers, immersing the audience in the sound of ice. The aim is to create an experience of wonder in which the audience is also invited to participate, through improvisation following the performance by Nicola Giannini and Architek Percussion.
The artists play on the blocks using sticks, sandpaper, and various other tools. At the end,
they melt the blocks with boiling water, creating unpredictable sounds and shapes. The audience is thus immersed in the transitions between the states of matter.
Then, the audience is invited to participate in a collective improvisation to experience the magical sound of ice. The blocks can be played without any prior experience, encouraging spontaneous exploration. The audience becomes a co-creator of the artistic experience in an inclusive, festive, and playful atmosphere.
The work was composed in the multichannel music studios at the University of Montréal.
Expansion was premiered on December 2, 2021, by Architek Percussion at the “Project Object II” concert as part of the Live@CIRMMT series at the Multi-Media Room (MMR), McGill University, Montreal (Canada).
Architek Percussion: Noam Bierstone, Ben Duinker, Alexander Haupt and Alessandro Valiante.
The performers for the 2024 edition were Architek Percussion (Ben Duinker and Alessandro Valiante) and Nicola Giannini.
I wish to thank Architek Percussion, CIRMMT, FRQSC, PHI et and the Faculté de musique de l’Université de Montréal.
