A spa­ti­al sound field of 42 val­ves pro­vi­des aural fireworks.

Sound is cre­a­ted by vari­a­ti­ons of pres­su­re in the air. For example, a loud­spea­ker has a moving mem­bra­ne that can cau­se the­se chan­ges in air pres­su­re. This can also be done with air val­ves, as Dutch sound artist Edwin van der Heide illu­stra­tes in his public sound instal­la­ti­on Pneumatic Sound Field. A timed relea­se of com­pres­sed air from a pneu­ma­tic val­ve cre­a­tes a brief pres­su­re chan­ge com­bi­ning a strong emis­si­on of air and a pier­cing his­sing sound. Van der Heide is inte­rested in the musi­cal pos­si­bi­li­ties of this sim­ple sound. An alu­mi­ni­um con­struc­ti­on with 42 val­ves cre­a­tes a spa­ti­al sound field abo­ve the listener’s heads, with his­sing pul­ses whiz­z­ing from left to right, for­ming rhythms that, when repe­a­ting them­sel­ves quick­ly, can cre­a­te dif­fe­rent tonalities.

The Baroque KADOC cha­pel with an octa­go­nal ground plan and an impres­si­ve dome rose bet­ween 1641 and 1705 and was for a long time a pla­ce of pil­gri­ma­ge for Our Lady of the Fever. In 1871 the fri­ars minor took it into use. They enlar­ged the cha­pel and also added a con­vent buil­ding. That monas­tery was to ser­ve as a trai­ning cen­tre for the fri­ars minor who were were stu­dying phi­lo­sop­hy and the­o­lo­gy at Leuven University. In the second half of the 1980s Leuven University bought the cha­pel and monas­tery and in 1990 KADOC moved in. KADOC is a docu­men­ta­ti­on and research cen­tre for reli­gi­on, cul­tu­re and soci­e­ty at KULeuven. Since 2018, both the exte­ri­or and inte­ri­or of the cha­pel have been under­go­ing exten­si­ve refurbishment.

Text: Liesbet Nys (KU Leuven)