Panacousticon, 2019

Satinised aluminium, steel, iron, 12 loudspeakers, audio system

Audio file:  60-minute loop

Courtesy of Galerie Alberta Pane, Paris/Venice, and Mazzoli, Modena/Berlin

Work produced by the Giovanardi Corporation

Photographic credits:  Andrea Rossetti

Artist
Michele Spanghero
Materials
Satinised aluminium, steel, iron
Dimensions
256 X 155 X 155 cm
Summary

The sound sculpture Panacousticon is an enormous dodecahedral loudspeaker in satinised aluminium, a sculptural variation of an omnidirectional sound device commonly used in the measurement of environmental acoustics. The sculpture produces a harmony of sinusoidal waves of different frequencies and octaves with slight variations in time, giving the effect of uniformly saturating a room with sound waves. With Panacousticon, Michele Spanghero gives body, life, and meaning to a project that brings together visual art and acoustical investigation, always in dialogue and conflict with each other. The result is an important hybrid object, with a satinised surface, an organism capable of recapitulating technology, poetics, and aesthetics, a work in precarious balance between sculpture and acoustical design. Michele Spanghero’s work is an entity structured to conform to specific technical demands and functions, an alien presence that inhabits the social and collective space of the exhibition, a shared space in which the spectator wonders if this object will speak or not, and about what or whom. Its representation is the undisputed symbol of a perfect, optimised surface, apparently deprived of all depth. Its smooth skin attests to an unknown origin, the scrap and the impertinence; its legs point out the landing place; the cones from which the sound emerges are instruments of communication and, and the same time, shapes that attract and by which one inevitably feels drawn in. The public is invited to explore the room acoustically. Despite the sensation of a monolithic sound, it is possible to hear, as one walks around the sculpture, overtones and harmonic beats, and to be able to interact with the reflection of the sound waves, perceiving slight acoustical modulations.

Technical specifications: Internal structure in steel in the form of a dodecahedron. Covering in brushed aluminium, milled and turned. Acoustical apparatus composed of 12 loudspeakers of 100 watts each.

Base in steel tubing, welded and covered with paint made from epoxy powder.

Dimensions:  150 X 150 X h 230 cm

Next artwork

Panacousticon, 2019

Satinised aluminium, steel, iron, 12 loudspeakers, audio system

Audio file:  60-minute loop

Courtesy of Galerie Alberta Pane, Paris/Venice, and Mazzoli, Modena/Berlin

Work produced by the Giovanardi Corporation

Photographic credits:  Andrea Rossetti

Panacousticon, 2019

Satinised aluminium, steel, iron, 12 loudspeakers, audio system

Audio file:  60-minute loop

Courtesy of Galerie Alberta Pane, Paris/Venice, and Mazzoli, Modena/Berlin

Work produced by the Giovanardi Corporation

Photographic credits:  Andrea Rossetti