Plastique Fantastique and Architectura Sonora, The Emotion Maker left: exterior, on the street below: interior
music in Berlin is always evolving, it arrives in waves and it keeps on coming. Right now it feels like some sort of nerdy-indie rock. People know how to play, but they choose to play this very nerdy, masculine sounding music. Its perhaps not as sweet or sexy as before, it’s heavy. The Emotion Maker is a project you have worked on together. What is it and how has it been developed? MB: The Emotion Maker, version 4.0 is an interactive installation that combines architecture and music in urban space. It evokes feelings and moods in rapid succession through intimate contact with music. Its an experimental and inter-disciplinary urban intervention. The temporary performance chamber is home to an interactive sound installation that connects participants to hundreds of instrumental music tracks. The performance is monitored by an algorithm that regulates the new music being created. In version 1.0, we wanted to produce a sort of moveable concert hall. We gave 100 musicians eight different emotions to play. We asked them to express an emotion through music for one minute and to record what they played. Visitors were able to choose any number of instrumental tracks before going inside the bubble to listen to them. Originally we intended to present a concert of improvised music. It’s changed somewhat now because its no longer passive. Tracks are loaded onto an interactive device that allows visitors to remix the emotions into a composition of their own. We hope to affect more people and reach a point where the people are really
part of the installation, playing the music. To date, the Emotion Maker has brought its intimate, self-directed concert experience to the cities of Berlin, Bilbao and London. MC: What is important is that we are mixing temporary pneumatic architecture with sound to intervene in public space. We provide the music, but the user chooses how to play the music, always changing the composition themselves. The idea is to make the listener the subject of the installation. MB: It’s a bit like Berlin, there is music, performance art, theatre and this is what it has become. From avant garde jazz to electronic beats, there is a whole city of music inside the Emotion Maker. Once installed, how do people react when you explain this mobile concert hall has emerged from the dynamic soundscape of contemporary Berlin? MC: People are curious to see something that comes from Berlin. Its always a little weird, it feels like you are wearing a label because people expect something. MB: They see the inflatable first and they are already interested because it’s a very attractive structure. The music inside impresses in the same way and it’s changing all the time, similar to the music scene in Berlin. The Emotion Maker takes inspiration from the city. The temporary architecture of Plastique Fantastique allows you to experience the acoustic range of Berlin and it brings these dynamic elements into urban spaces in which they would otherwise not be heard. j
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martin abbott
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