Project Description

“The Icebreaker”: A new musical instrument / sound installation / series of performance pieces derived from frozen microphones and amplified ice.

The most notable feature of the Icebreaker is its incorporation of small, hyper-sensitive microphones into large pieces of ice–allowing for the amplification and broadcast of a broad palette of sounds derived from this unstable medium. Sounds range from “clicks” created through tapping the instrument’s various surfaces, to subtle drips as the ice begins to melt. Different sizes of ice are used, as well as different objects with which to strike the ice, resulting in a sophisticated percussive instrument. The frozen microphones are also sensitive to static charges delivered through touching the ice with skin or metal. Elements of the Icebreaker are modular and easily located in close proximity and/or at a distance from one another, allowing for different possibilities in terms of how the installation inhabits material and sonic architectures.

While work on the installation itself will be ongoing (including sound design and prototyping of various possible arrangements for the interface), development of performance repertoire will take place principally during two weeks of research in two separate technical residencies confirmed for winter-spring 2008. Material produced in these residences will then become the subject of a week of intensive refinement later in the summer. These research events will provide the opportunity to engage the Icebreaker with a variety of performance milieus in the investigation of different interactive possibilities for the installation. They will also serve as a platform for my collaboration with a small team of sound art, installation, programming and performance experts.

I have designed and built a few prototypes of this project throughout 2007, beginning with soldering together inexpensive microphone parts, water-proofing these test items and then trying out different molds for freezing them into ice. This basic research was then shared with various artists and groups over the year through workshops and studio visits . The “ice microphones” are so sensitive/responsive that the amount of electrical amplification required to occupy a fairly large (i.e., auditorium-sized) soundscape is not that great. In fact, the current design for the Icebreaker incorporates up to 8 pieces of amplified ice and can be run entirely off the power from a 12 volt battery through the use of a converted car stereo system. This configuration can then be multiplied (2, 3, 4 times…) in order to create a surround-sound installation. The design is entirely portable and useful for a variety of different performance contexts (both indoor and outdoor). It also allows any given performance of the Icebreaker to occur without depending on the power grid. The 12 volt battery can be charged using inexpensive solar panels, an act that points to some of the wider conversations addressed by the project. These have to do with investigating the paradoxes of technologically-based artistic responses to our society’s over-consumption of industrially-produced electricity and the impact this has on global balances of water and ice. The technologies, ideas and concepts I will work with in this case reflect my belief that discussions around Canadian thoughtlessness towards the consumption of power are best promoted by the demonstration of alternatives.

Water and ice were chosen for the production of sonic events in order to evoke a feeling of transition from one state to another–to highlight the fragility of ice and the compellingness of rhythms derived through natural events (such as the beat provided by amplifying the sound of dripping water). Ice feels solid, until its constantly shifting nature is revealed as it melts in our hands or before our eyes. For audiences and potential players of the Icebreaker, this shift will also register with their ears. Ice is a captivating medium, with many possibilities for different shapes which themselves promote different styles of interaction, as well as surprisingly rich textures for sonic compositions, both improvised and rehearsed. Ice was also chosen in order to develop a particularly Canadian artistic intervention, as the instrument works best installed outdoors in the winter. If nothing else, cold Canadian climates provide possibilities for very large or numerous “ice microphones” to be built without resorting to indoor refrigeration (although the latter can be used tactically and effectively during other seasons).