Vancouver Piece (1973) was the second biofeedback art installation created by David Rosenboom. Developed for the Sound Sculpture Show that took place at the Vancouver Art Gallery in February of 1973, the work surpassed Ecology of the Skin (1970) in the complexity of its design. The sound sculpture required the construction of an entire environment within the gallery space.
Upon entering a dimly lit artificial environment, the sense of time and space somewhat dissolved. Participants could navigate the space following white noise sound cones and low-intensity red or green lights, which guided them to the center of the room – to an aluminized mylar mirror system. Yet, nothing happened until participants chose to sit on the floor in the center of sound cones, seeing each other through the two-way mirror system.
Once electrodes got attached to participants to monitor their EEG Alpha wave output, the magic started to happen. When one person began to produce Alpha brain waves – their face was illuminated with red or green light. This Alpha-emitting participant started to see themselves in the mirror system, while the other person – who didn’t produce Alpha – also saw their counterpart. If the two participants reached synchrony in their Alpha wave bursts, their faces became illuminated and superimposed in the mirror system. They began to see the two faces superimposed – somewhat experiencing the dissolution of identity. Meanwhile, wisps of a faint light were racing around the room as Alpha waves were produced:
“Sonic vibrations in a closed space arrange the air in standing, high and low-pressure patterns forming an invisible air pressure sculpture.” (Rosenboom in “Biofeedback and the Arts…”, 1975, p. 154)
But what happened if a participant didn’t choose to be wired to the system? In this case, the room played back other people’s previous experiences.
An entire history of the exhibition was captured by John Grayson in his Sound Sculpture book and the sounds of sculptures in the exhibition were released by A.R.C. on vinyl in 1975.
