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[The
User] a group made up of Thomas McIntosh, the architect, and
Emmanuel Madan, the composer, has made a name for itself by
taking outdated technology and creating new and interesting
artistic reuse projects with it. Thomas and Emmanuel
first gained recognition with their audio art creation "The
Symphony for Dot Matrix Printers." However, all along
they've been working on the Silophone. As the name implies,
the Silophone project is the conversion of a grain elevator
into a musical instrument. They chose Silo #5 in Montreal, because
Thomas became enamored with it while writing his thesis in architecture.
It's no wonder, because Silo #5 is a concrete grain elevator
that measures over 650 feet in length, 50 feet in width and
is a menacing 17 stories high. Each of its 115 grain bins can
hold up to about 53,000 cubic feet of grain.
Since
the early 1990s, the structure has been abandoned due to changes
in the global grain market that made Montreal a less desirable
port for the export of grain. Because of the enormous expense
and complexity to demolish Silo #5, it remains standing.
Thomas
used to take advantage of Silo #5's vacancy. He would periodically
sneak in to study its machinations. What makes the elevator
significant to him is that it represents the final innovations
in grain elevator technology. While doing his thesis research
on Silo #5, he noticed something else remarkable about the
structure, which was also a function of its design. He became
fascinated with how architectural spaces can shape the way
sound travels. Long cylindrical cement structures can't be
simulated on a compute, nor can they be found in nature. The
echo created here, is in a way, perfect. Click
here to listen to the sound of a trap door closing atop one
of the grain bins.
This discovery
led Thomas and Emmanuel to apply for grants, corporate funding,
in-kind donations and building usage permits to turn the dormant
Silo #5 into the mighty Silophone. The total value of the
funding is hard to determine, but Thomas believes that the
figure is well over $300,000 (Canadian). The Silophone has
been used as a place for concerts on numerous occasions. The
most recent concert was held on June 17th and featured the
music of Aube, Steve Heimbecker, Jean François Laporte
and the [The User].
The beauty
of the Silophone is that anyone can use it and listen to it
at any time. Click
here to listen to the Silophone right now in real time!
(If nobody else is using it at the moment, it may be silent.)
Then, click
here to open up a window to play sounds into the Silophone.
You can even upload your own sounds!
For more
information about the Silophone visit http://www.silophone.net/.
 
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