Benedikt Valenta↓

About the work

Sound Laboratory

We have to use the time we are given meaningfully, but if we start thinking about what is and is not meaningful, we can reach a state where art becomes irrelevant.

The idea of using the technological possibilities of the pipe organ action was directly inspired by my own experience with the restoration of the Baroque organ in the Church of St. Procopius in Sázava. I became aware of the functional aesthetics that show in every detail of such a device. This made me think of a form of a contemporary musical instrument built in the sense of functional aesthetics.

I decided to start by exploring new material options (steel, stainless steel, copper, brass, aluminum, wood, paper) for flue and reed pipes. I devoted myself to studying the meaning of „mensuration“, i.e., the size and material ratios for sound production using the reed pipe.

In order to make these pipes sound, I need the console, wind box, and mechanical tracker action. In creating these mechanisms, I try to act according to historical practices, following a return to craftsmanship and adopting period techniques adopted for contemporary music production. I have chosen a central octogonal composition of the instrument, whereby the player becomes the visual but also hierarchical centre of the whole ensemble. The mechanics of the instrument will be fully revealed to the viewer. This points to the reality of the device. Music is shaped first by the instrument, then by the performer. The form of the instrument and its tuning are therefore crucial to the produced music. Therefore, I explore so-called pure tunings, mid-tone, historical, Pythagorean, quarter-tone tunings and their possible use for the construction of „new“ music.

The aim is to create an instrument that encourages „playing“ per se and listening to sounds and their new interpretations, primarily to improvised and spontaneous performing. The instrument should be accessible to its audience and interact directly with them.