Chill-Out 3000

"Chill-Out 3000" is a unique tactile sound-installation. To experience the installation one has to crawl inside a soft and stretchable cocoon, thus becoming part of an intimate and futuristic chillout environment. A suspended metal plate is hanging in the middle of the cocoon. Using advanced vibration technology this plate is transformed into an interactive loudspeaker, making sound tactile. Visitors can play with the plate, thereby transforming the sound.

Phaser/Sleeper/Whisper

How do we perceive sound? How does our brain (re)construct waves captured by our ears? Is what we hear really what's being sent out? "Phaser/Sleeper/Whisper" is a sound installation in three parts, dealing with shifting perceptions and spatial notions of sound. "Phaser" presents modulated frequencies, traveling around while changing pitch, affecting each other in the process. The listener's perception is tricked through techniques such as phase cancellation and a quad speaker setup.

Sleeper" and "Whisper" both play on shifting human voices, slowly coming together to form a strange, unnatural language. Here also, spatial sound design adds an element of trickery. The setup of "Phaser/Sleeper/Whisper" requires a dark and isolated room. No visuals are used - no light is present.

JazzTube

"JazzTube" is a sound installation initially created by Foton for the .Motives Jazz festival 2005 and the city of Genk. Jazz is music - music is sound - sound is waves. Making these waves visible to the naked eye is what "JazzTube" is about. "JazzTube" is part composition, part hardware. The composition is a fragmented collage, reshaping sound snippets from the artists who performed during the .Motives festival. The hardware consists of two metal tubes with built-in speakers, positioned above the water of a fountain. Sound waves travel from the speaker through the tubes, onto the water surface. Sound becomes visible.

"JazzTube" can be reconfigured into a more generic "SoundTube" for all different kinds of music and compositions, and can be extended by adding more tubes.

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Foton and partners-in-crime FoAM join forces for an enchanting installation that injects different sources of lights into the dark winter months. The installation is a combination of glowing electroluminescent structures, alienating organic visuals, subtle light compositions and a minimal soundscape. All the elements combine to make you forget the winter darkness.

Ice 'n' Bass

"Ice 'n' Bass" is a visually impressive organic and tactile sound installation. Its core consists of a row of suspended metal plates carrying huge blocks of ice. The sound of waterdrops detaching themselves from the melting blocks of ice is amplified using contact microphones. These are hidden underneath a large metal strip bolted to the floor. This particular sound is combined with an extremely physical subbass soundtrack. The audience can touch the blocks of ice and use the metal strip underneath as a percussive instrument, thus becoming part of the sound generated by the installation. "Ice 'n' Bass" is presented in a dark and hidden place, increasing its claustrophobic but at the same time zenlike effect.

Clicks 'n' Cars

"Clicks 'n' Cars" is an impressive audiovisual installation, involving four brand new car frames and four shakers, state-of-the-art scientific tools normally used in vibrational research. The car frames are attached to the ceiling and become loudspeakers by sending amplified sound into the shakers. Each car frame functions simultaneously as loudspeaker membrane and -housing, as well as musical instrument due to its particular frequency response. Using the installation, Foton artists provide a unique soundtrack of extreme frequency patterns, stripped-down soundscapes and physical resonances. Onto the futuristic visual experience created by the suspended car frames, a dreamlike layer is added through clever use of stroboscopic and ambient lighting effects. All these elements turn a "Clicks 'n' Cars" performance into a unique blend of auditory and visual wonder.

Bent Object