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LAR BIO PROJETOS TIG EVENTOS ESCRITOS COMPOSIÇÕES GRAVAÇÕES VÍDEOS Mais

The Immersive Guitar - an overview

Um projeto na interseção de
arquitetura, engenharia,
música, arte e ciência, The
Immersive Guitar encapsula o
verdadeiro espírito de
colaboração, criatividade e
inovação.

A guitarra imersiva é ao mesmo tempo um capricho, um edifício em forma de guitarra de grandes dimensões, um espaço de
concerto íntimo, uma façanha de engenharia, uma exibição de sustentabilidade e, o mais importante, um novo instrumento
musical imersivo com propriedades tonais e acústicas únicas. O que começou como o sonho fantástico da guitarrista de
renome internacional Karin Schaupp de querer entrar em sua guitarra, logo evoluiu para uma jornada de design e construção
por uma equipe de design composta pelo arquiteto Bruce Wolfe, o engenheiro Dr. Hassan Karampour, o luthier Jim Redgate e
o co-diretor artístico percussionista e compositora professora Vanessa Tomlinson. O resultado é um instrumento inovador e
artisticamente inspirador, capaz de produzir novos sons e permitir que músicos e público explorem a música que um novo
instrumento pode produzir.

“O IMMERSIVE GUITAR é um instrumento, um ponto de encontro e um espaço de

contemplação e conversa.”

Curiocity Brisbane

Making The Immersive Guitar

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CONSTRUINDO A GUITARRA
IMERSIVA
(texto e imagens tiradas de Conrad Gargett )
​

O resumo foi fantástico, a experiência é inspiradora. O

Immersive Guitar no festival Curiocity de Brisbane é o maior
violão acústico do mundo, onde você sente as vibrações e ouve
de dentro da barriga do instrumento.
The Immersive Guitar é um trabalho inovador e experimental
que celebra uma conexão tangível entre instrumento e
arquitetura. Posicionado a poucos metros do Queensland
Conservatorium e do Queensland Performing Arts Centre, ele
oferece um local alternativo, único e intimista para
apresentações, com o objetivo de inspirar e ressoar com os
ouvintes.

The design is informed by an inventive approach to music

composition. As an instrument, it is designed to be played.
Musicians and visitors alike create sounds by reaching up and
plucking the strings which are strung across the sound hole and
acoustically amplified by several soundboxes. As a performance
space, the 25-person audience is rewarded with a novel, intimate
setting that affords a deeper understanding of the instrument.

Made from sandwiched panels of plantation grown

Queensland Hoop Pine and supported on a
structural steel frame, The Immersive Guitar has an
approximate size of 5.2m long x 4.3m wide and 2m
high. The portable space can be transported on a 3-
tonne truck and erected indoors or outdoors.

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“…there is a philosophical commitment in this project to highlight technology and

innovation in venue design without resource to electronic intervention: to use form

and fabrication of an oversized acoustic guitar as a fitting environment to engage a

listener in the ‘liveness’ of sound, the resonance of space, the presence of material

actuality and the dynamic interaction of plater with instrument, on a human scale.”

Wolfe, Schaupp & Tomlinson, 2021, p. 3

COMPOSING FOR THE IMMERSIVE GUITAR

Musically speaking, TIG is not a super-sized

guitar, but instead an entirely new instrument
with new sonic and performative characteristics.

“TIG’s Groove” was the first piece - playing open

string grooves that highlighted the amazing bass
sound, accompanied by percussive explorations
of the body of the instrument. To explore pitch

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variation, slide bottle techniques were

incorporated and our playing approach TIG’s Groove
developed in “Love in a Bottle”. The use of rattan
sticks on the strings, coupled with fingered frets
gave a rhythmic disco feel with micro movements
of the stick opening up worlds of overtones. Bows
also became a way to vibrate the entire inner
space of TIG – soundwaves that could be felt
when touching the body of TIG. Check out “Love
in a Bottle”.

Love in a Bottle

PLAYING THE IMMERSIVE GUITAR

The Immersive Guitar is played and listened to from the inside. In a sense, the guitar has been turned inside out with the
strings inside the body of the guitar above the performer’s head, reached by standing on a platform. The six individual strings
are tuned one octave below a guitar, with the top E replaced by a low D, one tone beneath the normal lowest note. Despite the
absence of a fretboard, the instrument can produce a 3-octave-plus pitch range using harmonics, plucked open notes,
pizzicato plucked notes with pinch stopping and/or a bottle slide. TIG’s strings can be plucked, bowed, hit or flicked with the
hands, sticks or a credit card as a plectrum and the body of the instrument and its soundboxes offer a large repertoire of
percussive sounds. Strumming TIG is tempting, but not effective, however playing multiple strings at once, with multiple
players and various techniques opens up new sound worlds.

Learning to Speak Disco

AUDIENCES AND THE IMMERSIVE GUITAR

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TIG offers a truly immersive experience to its audiences, as people are literally
surrounded by sound bouncing between the curved walls in all directions.
When performers pluck the first low notes to begin a demonstration, jaws inevitably
drop. The physical acoustic properties of the instrument are breathtaking and much
louder and more resonant than people expect. Experiencing an instrument from the
inside, understanding and seeing how it functions, feeling the power and beauty of
the sound boxes is revelatory to audience members. Audience members are able to
feel the sound vibrations along the inner walls by leaning on the walls or placing
their hands on the inner walls. Exposed to the musical possibilities of TIG, listeners’
expectations transform from a large guitar to a brand new instrument giving rise to
new musical breadth driven by experimentation.

Musical interaction between the audience and the performers is encouraged as

even lay-people can produce a beautiful resonant plucked or bowed sound and/or
explore the rich percussive opportunities of the instrument. Of course, many choose
to simply sit back and enjoy the loud warm tone of the new music created especially
for and by TIG.

THE IMMERSIVE GUITAR AT CURIOCITY

The Immersive Guitar premiered at Curiocity Brisbane, one of Australia’s leading installation festivals which transforms
Brisbane’s inner city into a wonderland of exploration. Curiocity 2021 was run in conjunction with World Science Festival and

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TIG was one of the featured installations, situated in an iconic position along the Brisbane River in the arts precinct and seen
by some 12,000 visitors of all ages, including countless school groups.

Curiocity Brisbane Closing Event Curious Conversations - An Engineer and a Guita…

Guita…

The Immersive Guitar debuted at Curiocity Brisbane 2021, and the season closed Curiocity Brisbane’s Curious Conversations - an interview with Vanessa Tomlinson,
with this live streamed performance by Karin Schaupp and Vanessa Tomlinson. Hassan Karampour and Karin Schaupp

“Curiocity Brisbane was the perfect opportunity for the launch of The Immersive

Guitar, The event and the work explore the intersections of STEAM ( Science,

Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) and reinforce that such works are possible

through cross industry collaboration.”

Theresa Famularo ( Executive Producer, Curiocity Brisbane 2021)

THE IMMERSIVE GUITAR CREATIVE TEAM

Karin Schaupp and Professor Vanessa Tomlinson (QCRC)
Artistic Directors and Performers

Recognised internationally as a classical concert guitarist,

festival guest, musical collaborator and project creator,
Karin Schaupp is head of classical guitar at Queensland
Conservatorium, Griffith University. Schaupp is the recipient
of two ARIA awards and has performed widely in Australia,
Europe, USA and Asia. She has created a number of
successful inter-disciplinary projects including Lotte’s Gift,
Don Juan and Love Stories.

Professor Vanessa Tomlinson is internationally recognised

as a percussionist, composer, improviser and director of
Creative Arts Research Institute at Griffith University. She is
the recipient of 6 APRA/AMC music awards, and 2 Green
Room Awards. She has created many large-scale immersive L-R: Jim Redgate, Hassan Karampour, Vanessa Tomlinson, Karin Schaupp, Bruce
sound works including Vibrations in a Landscape (with Erik Wolfe, Jocelyn Wolfe

Griswold) and The Oxbow (at The Piano Mill).

Both Karin and Vanessa have extensive experience

managing large scale projects. This is their first installation
collaboration, and it draws on compatible expertise in the
team.

Jim Redgate
Luthier/Instrument design consultant

Jim Redgate is a world renown luthier to elite concert

guitarists including Pepe Romero, Ana Vidovic, Ralph
Towner, Slava Grigoryan and Karin Schaupp. His designs are

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at once cutting edge, sonically superior and crafted to the Sketch, Bruce Wolfe

highest artistic standards.

Bruce Wolfe
Architect

Award-winning architect Bruce Wolfe (World Architecture

Award The Piano Mill) is renowned for his inspirational work
on some of the most prominent, innovative projects in
Queensland, including the internationally awarded Lady
Cilento Children’s Hospital. Guided by his astute design
sensibility, appetite for idea exploration and commitment to
collaboration, Bruce facilitates shared vision through design.
He places people and sustainability at the centre of all his
work, and is inspired by his ability to make a difference to
the way people live, now, and in the future.

Dr Hassan Karampour (SEBE)

Structural Engineer
3D print of The Immersive Guitar
Dr Karampour is a senior lecturer in school of Engineering
and Built Environment and a chartered structural engineer.
His research expertise is in the area of applied
computational mechanics and finite element analysis and
he provides commercial consulting to the local and national
engineering companies in form of computer modelling,
design certifications, product developments and physical
tests.

The Creative Team also acknowledges research support

from Dr Jocelyn Wolfe, Research Fellow, Queensland
Conservatorium Research Centre.

© 2023 por Sunshine Lab. Orgulhosamente criado com Wix.com

Read the full academic paper published in “Leonardo” here

Links to other articles:

Griffith News
Australian Wood Review
Timber & Forestry e-news

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