8’ x 10 x 17’
Rendering of Sector
Perspective view
Sector (The Community) is an immersive soundscape and architectonic sculpture that invites audiences to walk through and around it to experience the 8.1 multi-channel sound. Sector is a 25-minute audio play in six scenes addressing artificial intelligence, surveillance capitalism, and the technological sonic landscapes of the built and digital realms. The scenes take place within a luxury complex engineered for optimum lifestyle, retail, and commercial opportunities. The structure is similar in scale to the living area in a new one-bedroom apartment. The story begins with (walker one) going along a busy boulevard on their way home. After entering their building lobby, and taking the elevator up to their floor, they enter their apartment, make tea, use a microwave, the facilities, do laundry, etc. Phones ring, doorbells ring, (walker two) comes in, and email and phone notifications are heard. The action and sounds progress to include a variety of activities in and outside of the apartment including non-referential, dissonant, and harsh sounds.
The characters (voices) are represented by spoken word readings of prepared texts, words, and phrases. AI (artificial intelligence) from voice readers like gps, Alexa, Siri, chatbots, telemarketers, and robo-calls are used. Intermixed are sounds that describe the exterior and interior spaces such as; traffic, construction, planes and helicopters, music, materials, surfaces, and acoustics. Sounds emanate from the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, patio, window, and floor. Additional sounds represent the technological environment, such as spoken numbers, electronic alarms, beeps, and buzzers. These multiple layers of sound collectively represent the sonic flux that we live in. The audio for Sector (The Community) was composed using Supercollider. The programs written in code generate instructions that are sent to an audio server as Supercollider generates sound procedurally. Influenced by political, technological, and financial forces, Sector is a theater for the viewers to inhabit the sonically constructed living room, a world view framed with audio layers and textures, spectators are enveloped in a mesh of sounds infused with the sonic flux from life. Sector (The Community), a site of commerce, communication, and performance, is a critique of contemporary politics and culture, a vision of the modern world which is at times excessively loud.
