1982
Elevetor, 1982

Elevator - the sense I want here is one of a ride - sonic ride

Sound work references: Open form proposal
-Total Building, La Defense, Paris
-Medical Center, Chicago.

Sound Elevators

I am struck by the sense of dislocation in most elevators. As elevator manufacturers have made starts and stops less jerky and acceleration more gradual (certainly an admirable goal) we have inadvertently been left in a perceptual limbo, with only some numbered lights to tell us that we are actually moving. We enter in one place, the doors close and with a barely perceptible sense of motion somehow when the doors open we are in a different place. It was probably this which was the impetus for the idea of making a sound work which would articulate an elevator journey, a subtle aural presence which would evolve with each trip. In thinking further about the idea it became clear that by controlling sound in the car with the elevator's motion and position, one could make a sound work which was unique for the itinerary of each elevator trip reflecting the pathways of  the elevator's passengers.

 To take a simple example, if each floor has its own sound color, then each color is heard by passengers as a different point in the elevator's path as it moves up and down its shaft way.  The whole sound image (in time) heard by each passenger depends not only on his or her destination - where they get on or off determines which of the colors they hear - but also on the destinations of other passengers in the same elevator car - their destinations determine the pattern of elevator speeds and stops which compress and expand the sound color elements in time. m.n.

© The Estate of Max Neuhaus