Rainforest V (variation 3)

The choreographer Merce Cunningham commissioned David Tudor in 1968 to create a music work for his similarly titled dance. "Rainforest V (variation 3)" was developed by composers John Driscoll and Phil Edelstein of CIE (Composers Inside Electronics, Inc) into a self-performing sound installation building upon their past "Rainforest IV" collaborations with David Tudor.
In this interactive installation, 20 found and constructed objects such as large floats, plastic barrels, a copper tub, a plant pot, and a badminton racquet are suspended from the ceiling and resonate with signals sent from pre-recorded sound files, thus creating an evolving sound environment for audience exploration. This environment utilizes audio transducers that are mechanically attached to each suspended object. Each object has its own specific sound library with approximately 45-50 sound files of varying durations (from 5 seconds to 3 minutes) that are tuned and dedicated to specific objects in each variation of "Rainforest V". The sound files conceived and prepared by Driscoll and Edelstein are transmitted to the transducers on the objects through custom software. The transducers transform electrical signals to mechanical vibrations in the objects that the audience perceives as sound. Each object serves as a resonant loudspeaker that acoustically transforms the audio signals depending on its shape, dimensions, material and acoustic properties.