FM: CANAL (2009)
A dynamic one-block-long public sound art installation with world premiere content created and performed by Frozen Music. It was commissioned by the City of Miami Beach for Sleepless Night, November 7, 2009 and was installed on the Collins/Dade Canal, between Convention Center Drive and Washington Avenue in Miami Beach
FM: Canal (2009) [ 5:02 excerpt a ] | © 2009, Subtropics Editions.
Canal was the inaugural performance by the Frozen Music. It brought together the talents of David Dunn, Rene Barge and myself as a collaborative trio. It was performed live, nonstop over the duration of the entire 13-hour event, from 6PM to 6AM, on the longest night of the year
The Site
The Technology
For Canal, a Sennheiser wireless 8 channel system transmitted FM’s audio signals to 8 discrete speakers evenly positioned along the 1000ft extent of the Collins/Dade Canal behind the Miami Beach Convention Center. The speakers were locate on the street side of the canal ( the white dots on the image above ) so that the sounds would be projected on the water ( shown in the image below ) to the people walking the pathway from Convention Center Drive to Washington Avenue. The walkway lights were treated with magenta tones
The content of Canal featured autonomous sounds from David Dunn’s chaotic oscillators, sounds generated by small objects by Gustavo Matamoros and other electronic sounds by Rene Barge, that at times wove dense textures of sound mass and other times changed locations and moved organically across the length of the site to finally settle on a more static texture of sounds that took turns expressing themselves individually
A quiet moment along the walkway by the canal during performances taking place at other Sleepless Night sites | photo: Luis Olazabal | © 2009, Subtropics Editions.
FM: Canal (2009) [ 5:00 excerpt b ] | © 2009, Subtropics Editions.
The total number of people attending Sleepless Night that evening was roughly 120,000. This letter from the organizers of the event estimates that 50,000 people experienced Canal during its 13-hour performance
Stories and Reviews
sound expanse
knightarts: already sleepless dreaming of frozen music
networked music review: introducing frozen music
Frozen Music support letter