lythgoe.studio

The Eastern Gate
2022-2023

“The Eastern Gate” is a sculptural audiovisual installation and three-part soundscape composition for higher-order ambisonics, both of which resulted from a year-long research project. It exploes the architectural heritage of socialist futurism in New Belgrade, Serbia. Parts I and II of the acousmatic composition resulting from the project were presented in the KUBUS concert hall of the ZKM Karlsruhe in July 2023.

Each part investigates one of three distinctive building complexes in their role as cultural artifacts - fragments fixed in space yet divorced from a bygone ideological reality. The overwhelming scale and structural diversity of the decaying tectonic fabric is explored through field recordings and video footage taken over a six-month period. Three curved concrete sculptures serve as projection surfaces and as acoustic resonators for the generative multi-channel composition.

Individual sounds and images are introduced as unprocessed, documentary exposition, followed by modulation of the recordings as audio-visual material. In this way, the piece moves between lifelike representation and utopian architectural composition.

Installation
Mixed-media installation (sound sculpture with video)
Concrete, rebar, wood, acrylic mirror
Four-channel audio, Three-channel video
Concept, Music and sculptures by Daniel Lythgoe
Video by Desiree Kabis

Ambisonic Composition
3-Part Soundscape composition for higher-order ambisonics

The Eastern Gate (Pt. I)

The Eastern Gate is the first piece in the series, composed of field recordings from the three eponymous 85m tall pyramidal towers. Unchanged since their completion in 1970, the piece offers an insight into the auditory environment of their 1400 inhabitants.

Блок23 (Pt. II)

A densely inhabited group of towers at the entrance to New Belgrade comprise Blok 23. The hum of the nearby motorway remains ever audible. I walk up the 23 floors of one of the towers. The further up I go, the more personalised the hallways become, an extension of their owners apartments. The top two floors are filled with potted palms, children's toys, and ski boots.

Genex (Pt. III)

Genex uses impulse responses recorded in a gutted 36-storey tall ventilation shaft, the base of which was once a restaurant. Today, the ceiling is gone. With only structural support beams remaining, it has become the refuge of pigeons and plastic bags carried by gusts of wind.

The resonant frequencies of the windy shaft and adjacent motorway are extracted and emphasised against the backdrop of the multitude of dripping cooling units that tirelessly keep the apartments ventilated.