Dropper01

Sound installation from Arno Fabre - 2003 / 2006.

Eight percussion instruments – a cymbal, a timpani, a lithophone, a piece of wood, a red rubber band, a tagine cooking vessel, three marimba blades and eight flower pots are laid out in a circle and hanging in semi-darkness. Attached to the ceiling right above them, a network of cables and pipes is connected to a machine filled with water and composed of 24 drippers. Controlled by a computer playing a digital sheet music (Midi file, read by the software Max/MSP), the machine causes the water to drip on the percussion items hanging just below. The water drops fall as dictated by the music score, creating a real musical composition for water drops. The acoustic sounds produced by the percussion tools are amplified and broadcast through four loud speakers. There is no sound processing, or playing of recorded music, but only the sound of the impact of the drops. The water gradually fills up buckets as the music plays, and for sure, at some point, the buckets will have to be emptied.