The Eiffel Tower is probably the most familiar tourist attraction in Paris, but international sound artist China Blue is taking a fresh look at the famous landmark in her latest work. Last Friday, the Brown adjunct professor and fellow in psychology - who also taught a sound-art lecture and studio course at the University last summer - recorded acoustic material to create a sound installation of the iconic monument.
Blue's audience will hear a combination of her recordings: the ambient acoustics, such as voices and the sound of footsteps, and the actual vibrations of the steel of the monument. In an e-mail to The Herald last week, Blue wrote that she planned to use a binaural recorder, which "mimics the experience of a person as they walk though a space" by using two microphones to recreate the spatial alignment of the ears.
To capture the sonic vibrations, Blue will use geophones, which she wrote are "the same tool used in geology to measure seismic activity." Blue is currently in the process of analyzing the material and is unsure of the exact form the installation will take, she wrote.
Even Blue herself could not anticipate how a variety of sonic factors would affect her piece. She expected, however, to capture "not only the vibrations of the steel on steel and the rivets, but also the vibrations caused by the elevators, the people walking up the stairs and the effect of the wind."
If allowed access to the machine room, she planned to record the sound of the mechanics in operation, including the enormous elevator gears oiled in the traditional method, with lard.
The "intersection of architecture and the people who use it" first drew Blue into working with sound as an artistic medium. Imagining sound as "energy made physical" has allowed Blue to create sonic manifestations of other sculptures, albeit none on the same scale as the Eiffel Tower. Blue cited her "acoustic documentation" of a thirteen-foot tall steel sculpture by Richard Serra as a precursor to her latest project, describing the result as "like a breathing machine."
For her Eiffel Tower installation, Blue wrote that she wishes to continue exploring "social dynamics" in the context of a "unique engineering accomplishment." It is clear that the scale of the monument is of particular interest to Blue - she noted that it boasts "2,500,000 rivets and 18,038 pieces of steel weighing a total of 7,300 tons."
Blue has received assistance from Brown faculty in implementing her Eiffel Tower project. Some of the specialized equipment is on loan from the laboratories of Professor of Psychology Andrea Megela Simmons and Professor of Biology James Simmons. Assistant Professor of Psychology Seth Horowitz is an on-site advisor to the project and has assisted Blue with both writing and recording procedures.
