Electrified – Hacking Public Space is a biennale organized by Vooruit and the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium. At the core of this collaboration is a desire to expose the friction but also the possible understandings that exist between two contemporary art institutions which have different orientations and emphasis: S.M.A.K. is a museum with a focus on visual art, whereas the Vooruit art center dedicates its programme to media art, sound and performance art.

Roberta Gigante, OrganOOn. Photo: Reinout Hiel for Vooruit. All rights reserved

I’ll be back with a fleshier report on my visit to the biennale. In the meantime, a few lines about Roberta Gigante’s contribution to Electrified. I wasn’t there on the day of the concert so my text relies heavily on information i found online.

For Electrified02, the young artist decided to ‘hack’ the harbour of Ghent with a sound installation that turned twelve rusty, gigantic metal pipes stored there into didgeridoo-like sound cylinders. The pipes lie next to one another, like separate organ pipes waiting to be brought together in one instrument. Each pipe was sealed off on one side and equipped with a amplifier and sub woofer. Each pipe has its own resonance frequency depending on its thickness, diameter and length. These twelve frequencies are measured and used as the basis for the in situ sound installation. The calculated base tones can be used as keynotes for further musical experiment.

Roberta Gigante, OrganOOn. Photo: Reinout Hiel for Vooruit. All rights reserved

OrganOOn was a one day only organ concert that questions the classical organisation and setting in which concerts are held.

Roberta Gigante, OrganOOn. Photo: Reinout Hiel for Vooruit. All rights reserved

Roberta Gigante, OrganOOn. Photo: Reinout Hiel for Vooruit. All rights reserved

Video by Dries Verachtert

The biennale Electrified – Hacking Public Space is on view at Vooruit Art Center and S.M.A.K. in Ghent (BE) until June, 13, 2010.