Swooshing, Tapping, Knocking, Slapping and Banging

Robbi Meertens

During the opening of "Moritzplats: a meeting place for sounds", the gallery, the audience and the artists became an instrument. Guided by a conductor, the group of bodies collectively swooshed, tapping, knocked, slapped and banged on the different surfaces that form the borders of this space.

1 Scanning
People were asked to spread around the walls and were guided to slap the walls one location at a time, gradually moving through the space in a circular fashion. This resulted in a temporal sonic map of the material borders and acoustics of the space

2 Playing
People were asked to form little clusters which then spread through the space. After learning some necessary hand signals, the conductor uided the clusters to swoosh, tap, knock, slap, and bang at different locations in different combinations. This resulted in an improvised play and sounding of the space and people.