I AM staying in a room

fixed media

10 minutes in duration

completed 4/25/2020 in Baton Rouge, LA

This work is an hommage to Alvin Lucier’s I am Sitting in a Room (1969). I recreated the process utilized in the original composition in response to the current climate of self isolation and social distancing. One main difference between the original composition and my version is the original text. My version reads as follows:

“I am staying in a room. A room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but rather as a way to further experience the space and climate that we all currently find ourselves in.”

I created this work in Ableton Live Suite 9 using a similar method to Lucier’s process in 1969-1970. I originally recorded my voice into an initial track, and then played back the track into the room where it was recorded into a new track. Other than the obvious change in words, my track differs is in the presentation of the material, and the quantity of repetitions. As a commentary on how much time both myself and the general population have been spending in the same location, I created a shorter series of recordings to represent shortened patience and motivation that can become prominent in one’s mindset under these circumstances. Becoming isolated in a singular space, i am finding that any recording that I have to due will inevitably pick up outside sounds. Because i must utilize my living room area, a room not designed for this purpose, you will also hear additional noises such as cars driving by, a door shutting or my cat, Bean moving through the space.

You will notice a fade in the tracks volume as my voice gradually fades out before the resonant frequencies begin to take over and build toward the end.