Carp Noctem
City of architecture and heritage - A sound installation for the artifact of the Coupole of Cahors


 

A quadraphonic system broadcasts modal soundtracks, reminiscent of plainchant. The arrangement of the speakers is designed to slightly blur the location and intelligibility of the sound sources - like the acoustic phenomena that we can find in domed cathedrals.
A joystick type interface allows the visitor to play in real time with the spatialization of voices in the space of the dome from Cahors
Its architecture, due to its shape and the dimensions of the room, produces a fairly pronounced acoustic focusing phenomenon when you are in its center. In order to reveal to the public this acoustic particularity - which frequently exists in certain buildings with this type of concave cap - a simple metronome, with a very slow tempo, is placed in the center of the room. The mark of the metronome reveals this acoustic particularity while suggesting a symbolic dimension: the (a)temporal dimension of places of worship.