John Wynne

Sound CAD and Wireframe

16.1 channel sound installation
E:vent Gallery, London, 2006
Surrey Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2009
Gazelli Art House, London, 2014
“John Wynne’s installation constituted a masterful experiment in controlled sound manipulation, intense and at times looming, which accentuated the perception of space as well as the sense of hearing.” Chloe Vaitsu
Infrared camera still from Wireframe, Surrey Art Gallery, 2009
Image from one of the infra-red cameras set up by the Surrey Art Gallery to ensure visitor safety during the exhibition of Wireframe in 2009.

Sound CAD and Wireframe are site-specific, immersive architectural sound drawings. The concept was developed during a residency at E:vent Gallery in London, where I worked with graduate students from the Architectural Association of Great Britain.

The installation is an experimental attempt to make the equivalent of an animated architectural drawing on a 1:1 scale in situ using only sound. Both installations begin with a 3-dimensional ‘wireframe’ of sound which traces out the dimensions of the space. The walls, floor and ceiling are then ‘rendered’ with sound. In the total absence of visual stimuli, the only way the gallery visitor can navigate or understand the space is through sound.

The piece is virtually impossible to document: it takes place in total darkness, so there is nothing to photograph; the sound is inextricably site-specific and dependent on 16 separate channels and a large subwoofer, so a stereo reduction would be practically meaningless.

Globe and Mail review of Wireframe Review in the Globe and Mail
Flyer from Surrey Art Gallery
Flyer — Surrey Art Gallery
CAD animation still by Moe Ekapob and Kevin Ling

The image above is from an accompanying video installation at E:vent gallery by Moe Ekapob and Kevin Ling, two of the Architectural Association participants during the London residency in which this work was developed. My idea for the installation came about in response to a CAD drawing made by Moe as an aid to the discussion of how one could define and represent the gallery space. The architects, in turn, worked back from my ideas of rendering space with sound to develop animations investigating the notion of drawing within architectural practice and the perception of space through sound.