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A Sound Experience
Posted on 12/10/2007
Loughborough Newsdesk
Visitors to the Charnwood Museum in Queens Park, Loughborough can experience a bed which creates an intimate and unique environment for visitors to feel specially made music vibrate up, down and around their body. Whilst there has been a trend to mobile listening, such as walkman and now iPods, this is a movement in the opposite direction with immobile listening. But unlike listening to a concert in a hall full of other people this is a much more intimate experience. Sonic Bed_London was created by sound artists Kaffe Matthews is a central pin of a research project to investigate new ways of making and listening to music.
By using 6 bass speakers under its mattress and 8 more (mids & tweeters) in the panels around the side it is possible to immerse the user in its soundscape. And forget stereo, this bed uses a mac powered 12 channel sound system to wash over and envelope the user with waves of sound.
At the museum in Loughborough the bed plays a piece of work which was commissioned by Rich Mix 2006, and made by Kaffe in collaboration with Indian musician Shri colliding their differing practices in experimental live processing and British-Asian electronic and musical shifts over time through the raga system.
Kaffe Matthews, is currently working on the WWB, or World Wide Bed project whereby there will be a number of similar beds throughout the world, such as Shanghai, New York and Sao Paolo. The idea is that compositions will be made for each bed but will be linked by the Internet so users can select and experience different compositions made by other people.
Sonic Bed_London is the imaginative original sonic bed and was commissioned by Electra for Her Noise 2005 funded by the Arts Council of England and Women in Music. It is a essential pin in music for bodies research and received an Award of Distinction by Prix Arts Electronica 2006, in the Digital Music category.
Mike Jones, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council, pictured with wife Marj Jones who tried out the bed today (Friday 12th October 2007) told inLoughborough "It was an astonishing experience and a credit to the museum for attracting its installation.
Our reporter also tried out the bed and can confirm that it really is a unique sound experience not only hearing the composition from all angles but actually feeling it around your body.
If you want to try out the bed, make sure you have clean socks on (you will be asked to remove your shoes) and visit the museum in Loughborough 10am " 4:30pm Monday Saturday or between 2pm and 5pm on Sundays. The bed unfortunately will be leaving on the 28th October.
As always, inLoughborough captured a large number of pictures from the Sonic Bed_London and these are shown in the galleries on this site.