Everglades: Applied Universal Force (2018)
30-channel sound installation | 5′37″
Extended version | 9′54″
Dedicated to Charles Recher
Everglades: Applied Universal Force (2018) | 5′37″ | Binaural documentation of the complete 30-channel version presented as part of Four Audible Experiences of Movement of Sound in Space. Headphones recommended.
This piece gave me an opportunity to delve into the large collection of sounds I gathered during my month-long A.I.R.I.E. residency in Everglades National Park in September 2013. The recordings were made at different hours and in locations throughout the park.
I composed the work in situ at Audiotheque 2.0, arranging the recordings as an ecosystem distributed across its 30-channel sound system. Frogs, insects, birds, weather, and other Everglades sounds occupied different clusters of speakers, creating areas of activity throughout the room. Rather than making everything travel continuously, I allowed most of these small ecosystems to establish their own territories.
The piece began with frogs followed by a sudden thunderbolt whose dynamic force made nearly everyone jump. Four large Mackie speakers incorporated into Audiotheque’s otherwise heterogeneous system made it possible to move between very delicate sounds and moments of considerable physical impact.
The work is sound-system-specific. Its materials came from many locations within the Everglades, but its form emerged from the possibilities offered by the particular arrangement of speakers inside Audiotheque 2.0. The system and the room influenced how its various habitats could be assembled and encountered.
The title contains a small bilingual reversal. In Spanish, ¡FUÁ!—Fuerza Universal Aplicada—refers to giving something not merely one hundred percent, but the additional force beyond it: the extra. Translated as Applied Universal Force, its initials become AUF—FUÁ turned backward.
The piece is dedicated to my dear friend Charles Recher, my collaborator in Cars & Fish and the person who first introduced me to the Everglades. Charles died in 2017. He was one of my closest artist friends in Miami and a profound influence on me. Charles definitely had the FUÁ.
PRESENTATION HISTORY
September 13–December 15, 2018
Four Audible Experiences of Movement of Sound in Space
Audiotheque 2.0, Miami Beach, Florida
Original 5′37″ version
October 6–7, 2018
Audiotheque 2.0, Miami Beach, Florida
Extended 9′54″ version