Sara Caneva

A composition for string quartet and electronics, commissioned by the CrossCurrents Festival and BEAST, featuring the Ligeti Quartet, in collaboration with Casa Nacional de las Artes Bogota, Colombia, and BBC Radio3 New Music Show.

This composition is a tribute to the experience of memorising and remembering. It is ideally conceived for rendition without the score in complete darkness or dimly lit spaces. Electronic textures often prompt metronomic tempi, as the string quartet interplay relies on auditory cues only for pulses and synchronisation. The quartet’s particular deployment also intentionally restrains eye contact between the players and channels sensory stimulation into the listening.

An interactive immersive sound installation by Sara Caneva (composition and concept) and Milad Mardakheh (co-curator and programmer), using UWB technology for indoor position tracking and a wearable controller, participants.

ECLIPSE explores spatial perception, human-computer interaction and audio processing.
The compositional concept is loosely inspired by the novel ‘Eclissi’ (2016) by Ezio Sinigaglia, focusing on themes of lifelong self-discovery and the unlocking of buried memories, through exposure to particular natural soundscapes and human gestures. Visual deprivation and embodied listening are at the core of this curated experience of interactive sound hunting. As such, the work is conceived for an empty space where surrounding visual stimuli are reduced to a minimum, encouraging the visitor to walk through the space relying on auditory cues only. Discoverable audio zones are invisible but programmed to react progressively to the visitor’s position within the space. This will create a physical, semi-gamified composition rooted in sound and spatial exploration.

Key objectives of this project are to promote listening, movement, spatial and self-awareness, and present an innovative application of machine learning and UWB indoor positioning technology in Music/Sound Art. As the installation runs, one visitor at a time is invited to enter the room and traverse the space, modifying the sound environment by their movement. The interactivity between the visitors and the technology is facilitated through a wearable tag, which can be held on a headband or armband according to the visitor’s preference. Also, four anchor boards will be placed in the corners, delimiting an area of 11 square meters for position tracking. This setup encourages the visitors to explore the empty space, relying on auditory cues embedded in the soundscape to discover unexpected sounds hidden in specific areas of the room. These different zones are programmed to react progressively to the visitor’s behaviour, creating a physical yet semi-gamified experience rooted in sound and movement.