OPENING: Year Zero: A Sound Sculpture

Year Zero: A Sound Sculpture

materials: steel orb, reinforcements, cotton gloves | duration: approx. 40 min | measurements: 190 cm Ø, 130 kg | tech: transducer, mixer, amplifier, WAV player

//// Year Zero: A Sound Sculpture is a tactile sound installation by Ani Samperi. At its center is a hollow steel sphere of nearly two meters in diameter. Inside, an analog system generates low-frequency mechanical drones derived from transformed industrial sound material.

The sound expands into the space, circulates within the sphere, and transfers into the body of the listener. The steel structure acts as a resonant body in which frequencies, harmonics, and vibrations condense and become physically perceptible.

The surface of the sphere carries traces of its construction. Welded steel plates form a closed structure that contains the sound while radiating it outward. Perception shifts from spatial orientation toward a bodily experience of sound.

Cotton gloves invite direct contact. Through touch, a wider range of frequencies becomes accessible—frequencies that do not fully transmit through air alone. The body becomes a site of resonance and part of the sound transmission.

An opening into the interior allows for a closer interaction. Voice and body can enter into resonance with the object. Sound emerges as a relation between the sculpture and the listener.

The composition unfolds as a continuous process. The drones establish a stable, slowly shifting structure in which time is extended and experienced as a state.