2004
Permanent site-specific sound installation
BUFO: Shahreyar Ataie and Gustavo Matamoros
180-foot architectural walkway with sixty loudspeakers
Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture
Florida International University, Miami
Commissioned by the State of Florida Art in State Buildings Program
Unveiled March 31, 2004, as part of Subtropics 16
Breezeway is a permanent sound installation occupying the underside of a 180-foot canopy connecting the Workshop and Studio Wing of the Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture at Florida International University.
The project was created by BUFO, a collaborative team formed by visual artist Shahreyar Ataie and sound artist Gustavo Matamoros. We received the commission in 2003 and spent the following year refining and realizing the work. The building was designed by architect Bernard Tschumi.
Shahreyar designed the physical character of the installation: a long perforated enclosure integrated beneath the existing canopy to hold the sound system. He also developed its installation strategies. I created the sound content, mapped the acoustical resonances and designed the behavior of its sixty-speaker system.
TWO SOUND STREAMS
The organizing idea is described in the score as:
Two sound streams: one omnipresent, another traveling along a long straight line.
The first stream consists of stationary, slowly evolving sonorities derived from resonant frequencies discovered through controlled feedback in the breezeway itself. These sounds remain fixed, but each set of tones activates the architecture differently. As one sonority changes into another—often almost imperceptibly—the sound appears to occupy a different location. The architecture produces the spatial change.
The second stream is constantly migratory. It was created from a time-expanded noise melody assembled with piano sounds. Two versions travel sequentially through the installation, one speaker at a time, moving continuously in opposite directions along the length of the canopy.
Together, these layers produce two different forms of movement: the apparent displacement of stationary tones through changing architectural resonance, and the clearly directional passage of the noise melodies from one end of the breezeway to the other.
THE SIXTY-SPEAKER INSTRUMENT
Sixty 70-volt loudspeakers were distributed within the enclosure. Their spacing is not entirely uniform, and the speakers point in different directions so their sounds reflect from different architectural surfaces.
A relay-based sequencer custom-programmed by Trinity Electronics switches the traveling signals from speaker to speaker according to a score I provided. The system does not create a conventional surrounding image. Instead, it traces two long, counter-moving lines through the architecture.
The stationary and traveling materials are reproduced from two unsynchronized DVD players:
- DVD 1 — Migratory noise melodies: approximately 62 minutes
- DVD 2 — Stationary sonorities: 43 minutes, 52 seconds
Because the players repeat independently, the relationship between the two layers continually changes. The complete installation does not return predictably to a single fixed beginning.
EXPERIENCING BREEZEWAY
The piece was designed as part of the building’s everyday circulation rather than as a destination requiring a stationary audience. Students, faculty and visitors encounter it while walking between the School of Architecture’s two wings.
The moving sounds accompany—or contradict—the direction and speed of each person’s movement. One may follow a sound, meet it while walking in the opposite direction, stand still while it passes, or become temporarily aligned with one stream while another travels away.
At the same time, the resonant sonorities make the breezeway itself audible. Their gradual changes subtly alter the perceived size, density and location of the surrounding architecture.
The installation was intended to operate continuously. It remained active without a prescribed beginning or ending, its two unsynchronized layers forming new relationships throughout the day.
Breezeway audio excerpt. A microphone placed within the installation documents one moment of interaction among the stationary resonant sonorities, the counter-moving noise melodies and the surrounding architecture.
OPENING
Breezeway was unveiled on March 31, 2004, in partnership with the Frost Art Museum and as part of the Subtropics 16 Experimental Music Festival.
The opening began with a presentation by BUFO at the Frost Art Museum, followed by a visit to the installation at the Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture.
CURRENT STATUS
Breezeway was commissioned and installed as permanent public art. The physical installation remains at FIU but is not presently operational, as responsibility for its continued maintenance has remained unresolved.
DOCUMENTATION
Score: Breezeway: A Score | PDF
The score documents the work’s event structure, stationary and traveling sonorities, resonance analysis, relay sequence, speaker routing, equipment, architectural model and installation process.
Opening announcement: “BUFO Reveal the Breezeway,” Subtropics 16, March 31, 2004 | PDF
SELECTED PRESS
CREDITS
Concept and collaborative design: BUFO — Shahreyar Ataie and Gustavo Matamoros
Sound content and acoustical design: Gustavo Matamoros
Physical design and installation strategies: Shahreyar Ataie
Custom relay-sequencer programming: Trinity Electronics
Sound-system equipment: Altec, Panasonic and QSC
Commission: State of Florida Art in State Buildings Program
Site: Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture, Florida International University
Building architect: Bernard Tschumi
Opening presented with the Frost Art Museum as part of Subtropics 16