Sunset Ritual

Photo by John Gollings

As the sun sets each night, AL_A’s gently swaying MPavilion will perform its own evening ritual. Installed where the structure’s roof petals and carbon-fibre poles meet, LEDs will create scattered halos of light, synchronised to an immersive sound piece created by Matthias Schack-Arnott of Speak Percussion, performed by the building itself. Gloamer, a new six-channel work for resonant metallic percussion instruments and sine tones, is based on a detailed analysis of the overtone structures of thirty-two gongs and cymbals, and employs gestural microphone techniques to create shifting patterns in resonance.

Unfolding nightly throughout MPavilion’s 2015/16 season, Sunset Ritual is a collaboration between Matthias, architect Amanda Levete and lighting designer Ben Cobham of bluebottle. Set yourself a sunset reminder and greet the darkness in a digital forest.

Composition and performance: Matthias Schack-Arnott (Speak Percussion)
Recording engineer: Adam Casey