Cochlea Lounge sound installation in collaboration with Gitis Bertulis

multi-channel sound system made of ply wood, chalk paint, fish glue, 12 transducers, 12 DIY vacuum tube amps, WAV 48kH 24bit file player, sound card, private record collection; total duration of loop – 6 hours. Created for exhibition in Vartai Gallery, Vilnius, 2018.

“Cochlea Lounge” consists of a sculptural sound-system made by the artists according to the design of the acoustic pyramids (or “stalactites”) hanging in the former Vilnius Recording Studio since the late 50s. The author of the original design is Hungarian biophysycist Georg von Bekesy, who was awarded Nobel Prize (1961) for the research and explanation of the workings of the inner ear organ – the cochlea – which is responsible for hearing and distinction of pitches. The function of Bekesy’s 32 pyramids was to scatter the low frequencies and dampen the sound of the big recording room. Object by Bumšteinas & Bertulis has slided down from the studio’s ceiling to the gallerie’s floor and is emitting bits and fragments of the digitalized vinyl sounds, that it was “absorbing” for half a century. A private collection of fifty records that has been recorded under the pyramids throughout the XXth century was used as a sound source and can be browsed-through in the “Cochlea Lounge”.