Spatial Entanglements combines a periphonic loudspeaker dome and several tangible interfaces that invite an audience to interact playfully with immersive audio. The interfaces, sound processing software and speaker system together form a relational musical instrument that invites participants to temporarily form a spatial audio ensemble.
The installation consists of a spherical 12-channel Ambisonics dome in the shape of an icosahedron and three tangible interfaces that allow sound generation and spatial distribution by a single gesture. The lightweight mobile loudspeaker dome is based on the structural principle of tensegrity and consists of aluminum struts that support 12 speakers. The tangible interfaces are based on the same structural principle, allowing them to be bent or squeezed accordingly. Deformations of the respective interfaces manipulated by the audience performers will be mapped to sound processing and spatialization parameters. Furthermore, a motion sensor attached to an esp32 placed in the center of the respective interfaces transmits gyroscope and accelerometer data to a host computer via OSC and WiFi. The incoming data is analyzed using Machine Learning (Wekinator) and mapped to sound processing and spatialization (Ircam’s Spat) parameters in MAX/msp.