Remote / Displaced

remote/displaced allows for an immersive exploration of a virtualized physical space: Öljysäiliö 468, a vast, decommissioned and repurposed oil tank in East Helsinki.

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Due to its shape and materials, its acoustics are extremely peculiar, with long reverberation times, shimmering echoes and immersive radiating patterns. In addition, it is an almost magical site for a modern sonic ritual due to its status as a relic of fossil-fuel culture, its position by the shore, and its nature, in-between a closed industrial space not meant for humans and a shell open to the surrounding land- and soundscapes, that constantly filter and reverberate in its open cavity.

The project takes the shape of a small collection of brief immersive audio-visual visits to this special remote place, exploring ways to listen to the encounter between sound, technology, space and landscape, as it emerges like a precarious ecosystem, where the boundaries between natural and artificial are constantly renegotiated and deformed by technology. In between physical and virtual space, the brass instruments, an array of recycled sonic devices, the light, the wind and the sea waves, filtering through the holes on the metallic reverberant surfaces, transform one another.

The audience can access the various short experiences using a wide array of technologies, from VR goggles, to mobile phones or personal computers, both remotely and in situ during the festival.

Ars Electronica - Keplers Garden

Project Credits / Acknowledgements

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• Äänen Lumo (Charm of Sound)

• quietSpeaker (Andrea Mancianti and Roberto Fusco)

• Aalto University Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics

• Aalto University Department of Media

• Concept, composition and electronics: Andrea Mancianti

• Visuals and 3D animation: Roberto Fusco

• VR and immersive audio production: Sebastian Schlecht

• VR and immersive audio engineer: Nils Meyer-Kahlen

• Sound Engineer: Thomas McKenzie

• Soloists: Henriikka Teerikangas, Inka Pärssinen, Sauli Saarinen, Max Silfverberg, Mikko Marttila.

• Wind ensemble: Helsinki Symphonic Winds (Akateeminen Puhallinorkesteri)

• Production: Äänen Lumo, quietSpeaker, Aalto University

• Supported by: Kone Foundation, Taike (Arts Promotion Centre Finland) and The City of Helsinki