EXHIBITION DESIGN

Musical inspiration and engineering ingenuity come together in the performative sound installation entitled Cycloïd-E. The work, created by Cod.Act, an artist duo of Swiss bothers André and Michel Décosterd, is based on a formal analysis of the relationship between sound and movement.

Cod.Act’s artworks, which mostly constitute performative sound-making devices, are often inspired by the natural sciences.  The basic concept of Cycloïd-E, for instance, is the creation of seemingly natural oscillations and related sound effects within in a system that is also harmonic in its movement. The result then allows for manifold interpretations: Cycloïd-E simultaneously reminds us of a mock-up of the Pythagorean model of the universe playing the music of the spheres and a futuristic robot that is not quite anthropomorphic, but bears human intelligence. The vertical pendulum structure was constructed by linking five individual pendulums, each of which is a musical instrument that produces (pre-recorded, orchestral) sound, depending on the movement of the sculpture.  As a result of their complexity and the sudden, rapid changes in the cycloid movements of the pendulums, the manifesting sound is not clear, but transforms into hybrid resonances. The musical parts, nevertheless, always remain in harmony. 

​

© the artists