Concomitant Variations

A sound installation
Ted Apel
Glass, electronics, sound

Concomitant Variations is a sound installation in which many glass tubes are used as chambers to impart strong resonances on sounds produced by feedback circuits in each tube. Each circuit delays sounds that derive from a combination of sounds present in the environment. These sounds include the people and ambient sounds of the space, the sounds produced by the other tubes, and the resonated sounds of the tube itself. The resultant sounds are forever evolving in variations derived from interlacing interactions of prior sounds. In this installation the physical materials of the work are highlighted by the specific resonant sounds produced. This is different from the traditional use of a loudspeaker as an inconspicuous sound reproducer. This connection between the visual and audible material allow us to understand that the combined sounds heard from the work are an emergent property of the tubes, that is, each tubes sound is dependent on the contributions of the others.