Ludger Brümmer, Yannick Hofmann, Dan Wilcox: NCS_Hypogean City

Matera, Italy is considered to be one of the oldest cities in the world with distinctive cave-like dwellings carved out of limestone. Called "Tufo" by inhabitants of the region, this soft stone consists mainly of calcium carbonate, a chemical compound of the elements calcium, carbon, and oxygen, laid down as sediment millions of years ago. Over time, spaces have been hollowed out through the flow of water and human hands, extending back into a layered history.

»NCS_Hypogean-City« is a multi-room sound installation of spatialized electroacoustic miniatures. Its textual characteristics and dramaturgical progressions are built upon the sonification of the area's timeline, geological data, and both the symbolic and numerologicalic aspects of calcium, carbon and oxygen: Ca (20), C (6), O (8). Through the dynamic placement of small-scale loudspeaker systems new (sound) connections are created within the space that artistically reflect Matera's geologically unique setting and stimulate the cave acoustics of the Casa Cava.

The multi-room sound installation was exclusively developed in 2019 for IN VITRØ - artificial sønification as part of the Interfaces Project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

ZKM | Hertz-Lab 2019

Ludger Brümmer
Yannick Hofmann
Dan Wilcox

Technical realization: Dan Wilcox
Video: Dan Wilcox