R o m e, e x t. n i g h t - a sonic architecture concept

Download: http://soundtoys.net/toys/rome-ext-night

Rome Ext. Night is a “site specific” sonic exhibition; formed by macro electronic music composition (split into 22 linked micro-compositions), designed mixing ambient sound objects (created through digital synthesizers) with background noises (traffic, voices, wind and other weather phenomena, subway trains, the flowing of the Tevere, all caught with mikes and a boom in the night-time) subsequently transformed to become in their turn sound objects. These 22 micro-compositions are impressions on (and expressions of) Rome "shot" by night, and they reflect an experience of the city as soundscape. The sound of the city in motion. The sound of the city as still. Not the daytime sound, that permeates the environment like the pervading brightness of the roman light, but the night time one, of a Rome mysterious and almost invisible.

Rome Ext. Night looks like a sonic “guide” to the city, portraying its face and telling its space in a poetical way; it’s a mere listening experience, made of contemplation, purposing the pursuit of a soundscape design: “organised sound” made to contribute to the spreading of an environmental conscience. Both sound and pace follow the general tone of the district described: nervous, urgent and fast-paced for TESTACCIO, MONTE MARIO and TERMINI/EUR; easy, placid and serene for GHETTO; meditative for CAFFARELLA, GIANICOLO and SAPIENZA; ancient and experienced for VERANO and APPIA ANTICA; mysterious for COPPEDÉ, TRAFORO and MONTI; materic and concrete for CORVIALE and TANGENZIALE EST; bright and sentimental for PONTE MILVIO. It’s a poetic translation of the city, and its task is not to support the listeners into recognizing places but to supply an unusual vision.

Rome Ext. Night is: sonic architecture; a site specific sonic exhibition; a way to get back a perception of the everyday space; a sonic document; an invisible and impalpable medium that mimes the city space; a model of the city; a space that is both recognizable and unrecognizable; the city from a sinaesthetic point of view; the space dispersal that sound sticks; the city as acousmetre; an imitation of Rome as a fragmented, variegated, balanced body; an alternative way to comprehend Rome.

Here are the details of the 22 compositions referring to Rome districts:

1. Caffarella. (07:28 pm)
2. Testaccio. (before midnight)
3. Coppedé, Piazza Mincio. (after midnight)
4. Traforo Umberto I. (10:16 pm)
5. Ghetto (Portico d'Ottavia). (09:15 pm)
6. Salita al Gianicolo. (04:23 am)
7. Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza.
8. Sopraelevata della Tangenziale est (02:20 am)
9. Nuovo Corviale. (11:40 pm)
10. Pincio. (08:36 pm)
11. Lungo il Tevere. (10:06 pm)
12. Verano.
13. Circo Massimo. (03:18 am)
14. Laurentino 38. (11:53 pm)
15. San Martino a Monti. (03:02 am)
16. Termini-Eur. (11:40 pm / 11:52 pm)
17. Appia antica. (09:09 pm)
18. Eur-Termini (11:32 pm / 11:46 pm)
19. Borgo Pio. (01:19 am)
20. Monte Mario (ex manicomio). (02:09 am)
21. Piazza di Firenze. (07:56 pm)
22. Ponte Milvio. (03:27 am)

http://soundtoys.net/toys/rome-ext-night