Contact Aernoudt Jacobs 2020

Contact is a site-specific work that makes the different sonic properties of glass and concrete from the Marta Herford building audible by transferring acoustic vibrations from pulsating human heartbeats into the architectural elements.

Because of their sonic properties, glass and concrete render sound very differently. Glass will vibrate easily and resonate at multiple frequencies. Concrete on the other hand will absorb much more and resonate at infra-sound and thus tactile levels.

Vibration speakers transfer heartbeats into the building. The sound will activate the building’s architecture through resonance and wave propagation exclusively established by vibrations. With stethoscope earpieces people are able to tap into the glass and concrete materials and listen to different vibration phenomena on a microscopic level.

During the opening of the exibition a sound perfomance takes place with a polyrythmic quartet of heartbeats recorded and mixed live from four performers. The heartbeat pulsations will resound into the glass windowpanes of the museum.