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<p class="has-text-align-center has-black-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-extra-large-font-size"><strong>Sound the Asylum</strong></p>
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<p class="has-text-align-center has-black-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background">[2023 : ongoing]</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background">Perception of physical space is informed by all our senses, yet often the character of a place is reduced to visual documentation. <em>Sound the Asylum</em> is a growing catalog of immersive audio documentation, recording the aural identity of decaying asylum interiors in Kirkbride Plan hospitals. We use an ambisonic recording technique to capture the activation of resonant frequencies in full 360º spatial surround. A series of recordings—each a recording of the previous iteration amplified by a loudspeaker—gradually reveal the humming resonance of a room’s dimensions and character.&nbsp;<br><br>Our process also captures sounds in and around the asylum—summer insects, tolling church bells, and bits of decaying plaster falling to the floor—immersing the listener in the sonic space with the delicate drone of the resonating frequencies. These phenomena softly imbued the sonic experience of the patients and staff, coloring every sound of daily life in these buildings with complex histories.&nbsp;<br><br>The innovative Kirkbride Plan, developed by psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride, created therapeutic environments for the treatment of mental illness, providing unprecedented access to space, natural light and fresh air. In the 19<sup>th</sup> century, 73 Kirkbride Plan hospitals were constructed throughout the United States. Described as “America’s castles,” only 30 or so of these massive hospitals remain standing today.<br><br>The Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo, New York, is a 44,594 sq m (480,000 sq ft) Kirkbride Plan hospital. Designed by architect H.H. Richardson with gardens designed by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it opened as the Buffalo State Hospital in 1880; operated for 94 years; closed in 1974; was designated as a National Landmark in 1986; and from 2008 is undergoing a series of adaptive reuse projects.&nbsp;<br><br>In August 2023, we recorded resonant frequencies in Male Ward B (corridor, stairwell, barbershop, bed room, dormitory) and in Female Ward C (parlor, corridor, bed room).&nbsp; As this project grows, we will document more unrenovated asylum interiors, including The Ridges—a 65,032 sq m (700,000 sq ft) Kirkbride Plan hospital in Athens, Ohio.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><a href="http://flowercat.org/sound-the-asylum/230809-mg-standing-in-buffalo-state-hospital/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230809-MG-standing-in-Buffalo-State-Hospital-461x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-940"/></a></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://flowercat.org/sound-the-asylum/230809-dm-decending-stairs-buffalo-state-hospital/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230809-DM-decending-stairs-Buffalo-State-Hospital-461x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-941"/></a></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://flowercat.org/230809-melissa-grey-popping-balloon-for-impulse-recording-in-male-ward-b-corridor/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230809-Melissa-Grey-popping-balloon-for-impulse-recording-in-Male-Ward-B-corridor-1024x461.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-943"/></a></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://flowercat.org/230810-david-morneau-setting-up-for-recording-in-male-ward-b-barbershop/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230810-David-Morneau-setting-up-for-recording-in-Male-Ward-B-barbershop-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-950"/></a></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://flowercat.org/230811-david-morneau-recording-resonant-frequencies-in-female-ward-h-corridor/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230811-David-Morneau-recording-resonant-frequencies-in-Female-Ward-H-corridor-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-945"/></a></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://flowercat.org/230811-melissa-grey-recording-resonant-frequencies-in-female-ward-h-corridor/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230811-Melissa-Grey-recording-resonant-frequencies-in-Female-Ward-H-corridor-1024x316.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-951"/></a></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://flowercat.org/230809-microphone-set-up-in-male-ward-b-corridor-west-facing-view/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230809-Microphone-set-up-in-Male-Ward-B-corridor-west-facing-view-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-944"/></a></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://flowercat.org/230811-microphone-set-up-in-female-ward-h-corridor-east-facing-view/"><img src="http://flowercat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/230811-Microphone-set-up-in-Female-Ward-H-corridor-east-facing-view-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-946"/></a></figure>
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<p class="has-black-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background">Access to buildings on the <a href="https://richardson-olmsted.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Richardson Olmsted Campus">Richardson Olmsted Campus</a> provided by<br><strong>Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo</strong><br>• Paris Roselli (Executive Director)<br>• Patrick Ryan (Cultural Coordinator)</p>
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