spectr|a|um
audiovisual lounge on Brussels Dexia Tower curated by LAb[au]

in the context of:
nuit blanche brussels

Financial support:
Nuit Blanche Dexia

Technical support:
Artotech Brussels International

The project offers a night with audio-luminous performances and visual art on Brussels' 145 m high Dexia Tower, from which 4200 windows will be lit up by internationally renowned musicians and artists.. The event has been curated by LAb[au] in the context of Brussels 'Nuit Blanche' in 2007 presenting:

- Limiteazero / Holger Lippmann / Olaf Bender _ visual artworks
- Frank Bretschneider _ audiovisual performance
- Balanescu Quartet _ audiovisual performance

The audiovisual performances have been conceived by means of a specific software program, LAb[au] has been developed for this event, called 'silo' being the abbreviation of 'sound in light out'. The software program enables multi-track frequency analyses and its real-time mapping to the behavior of colored geometric shapes illuminating the building in correspondence to its specific resolution.

In this manner each instrument or each track can independently be visualized. For example: a tiny sound can be represented only by a window, a beat by the lighting up of a façade, volume by luminosity, stereo effects by the north=south division of the facades, et cetera.

The title of the project reveals its main concepts: to relate the spectrum of light to the spectrum of color and sound, while relating it to an architectural and urban context, where 'raum' is the German word for space. In this sense the frequencies of sound are related to the frequencies of light to describe the architecture of the tower.