The "Agora" in classical Greece was a political, economic and social meeting place. The AGORA-project presents a meeting place for three areas:
(a) The theatrical study of simultaneous psychological states
(b) An electroacoustic score
(c) A convergence in time and place of theatre, installation and electroacoustic sound.

General style:
* An electroacoustic theatre work where spatial information is the structural driving force.

* A physical installation emphasises the sonic space and guides the solo performer. The design of the construction is extracted from the main ambisonic sound spatialisation fields and trajectories, and is completely integrated with physical and sonic motion.

* Acoustic resonating objects articulate the space and sonically unite human and computer sound.

* To consider sound production, spatial delineation and theatre as interdependent elements.

The music and the drama
Different psychological and physical conditions are developed, each of which embody a different spatial character in electroacoustic sound activity and physical presence of the performer:

* Forced: fettered, trying to break free but continuously blocked.

* Fear: surrounded by evil. In this state the performer attempts to aurally 'confide' the fears with parts of the installation. This sound is later replaced in the space through use of electromechanics.

* Play: delight and mischief. Playing like a strange creature rather than as a child. Simultaneously describing and embodying the concept of play.

* Socially restrained and refined: a calm interaction with the sound-space, telling an unknown story and explaining how unknown things were.

* Longing: a direct expression of longing containing anguish and sadness.

* Anger: a direct expression of rage integrating performer and electroacoustic sound-theatre.

In AGORA the spatial sound-world is the driving force for a psychological progression meeting outer and inner resistance: from confusion and fear, to play, explanations and understanding, to longing and anger, and finally a synthesis of these elements. The soprano articulates the vocal and spatial 'tip of the ice-berg'. The electroacoustic part expresses a multiplicity within which the soprano is a singularity.

Text
Fragments of text from Norwegian (Ibsen, Obstfelder, Wergeland); English (Poe, Lewis Carroll, Wordsworth); Old English (extracts from the Exeter Book and other Old English texts from the 9th Century); and Old Norse (extracts from the Gamle Edda) are the only libretto elements. These fragments have been selected in their sparsity to embody the six character conditions and to emphasise the timelessness of AGORA through a composed sound poetry.

The technology: cohesion through a common computer model
A computer "collision avoidance algorithm" was designed and the time developing process and pattern visualised. In this model, virtual "agents" or virtual people are each given goals and personalities that determine how they can move through the virtual space filled with obstacles. The resulting time-developing trace was used as a template for second-order ambisonics sound spatialisation, sound transformation and for physical installation design. The virtual model therefore became a real manifiestation in the performance space.

The installation and electromechanics
The installation addresses boundaries between performance, architecture, sound, and audience space. It is constructed from aluminium, fabric and plastic membranes. The elements are modular and allow for adjustments to suit each space. The design is the result of a collaboration between composer, programmer and archiects.

Two types of computer controlled acoustic sound sources are integrated into the electroacoustic composition and the installation:
(a) Small electronic actuators receive voltage inputs from audio amplifiers. These devices input sound making vibrations into eight tuned tension membranes that serve to amplify and colour the audio input.
(b) Computer controlled electromagnets providing a 50 Newton force are used to hit long aluminium bars (3 to 6 meters long) suspended above the audience. The audio result is a series of strongly resonant bar-chimes.

The electroacoustic sound
The electroacoustic sound is projected over 12 to 16 loudspeakers. Over a central hexagon of loudspeakers sound spatialisation is pre-encoded / pre-composed with ambisonics technology. Over the remaining loudspeakers, traditional sound diffusion from a stereo source is performed in the space. A computer plays the electroacoustic material, controls the electromechanics, distributes the soprano's amplified voice and provides the soprano with a synchronised guide-track.

For information on the spatialisation and structure agora_spatial_text