Where the Pulse Falls
Natasha Dubler & Caitlin Dubler
Where the Pulse Falls
2022
Interactive sound-sculpture installation
Concrete, glass, steel, sound.
Bumbling. Bustling. Bedrock. Bodies that shake and shiver.
Ferns, fog, and clinging droplets.
Where the Pulse Falls (2022) is an installation by sisters and collaborators Natasha Dubler and Caitlin Dubler. This is the first collaboration between the two, exploring interactive sound and sculpture techniques which encourage a different kind of sensory engagement with site. Weaving together site impressions and field recordings, the sonic-tactile sculptures gesture at experiences that are felt on an intimate scale.
Three large circular dishes (approx. 50cm diameter) made from kiln-slumped glass, cast concrete and hammered steel are mounted on tall, fabricated steel stands. A fourth large cement dish lies face up on the ground. Each object is sonified as a speaker, revealing in the process the different resonant qualities of the material. The timbral differences become pronounced as listeners move close to each dish; concrete swallows sounds, favouring lower frequencies; glass projects sustained tones in mid-to-high frequencies; and steel sings with metallic mid-range frequenciesInvited to touch the surface texture of the dishes, audiences are able to feel the vibration of the material move through their body offering a multi-sensorial experience of sound which is felt as much as it is heard.
8-channel surround sound offers an immersive listening experience. The composed sound work includes field recordings and sampled percussion. Unconventional field recording techniques, including the use of contact microphones, hydrophones and geophones, provide an opportunity to survey the hidden sounds and happenings which occur below or away from the threshold of human hearing.
Where the Pulse Falls emphasises the mutability and indeterminacy of experience, playfully experimenting with how acts of listening attune us to material narratives embedded in materials.