Soundfest -- A Canyon of Sound
With musical stairs and a ukulele ensemble, the Wetherell Quad will host a festival of interactive musical talent during Exeter’s first SoundFest this Sunday. The event, organized by the Democracy of Sound, will contrast traditional concerts with hands-on musical intervention. Attendees can snack on refreshments, partake in musical installation or even bring their own instrument to contribute to tumult of noise that is SoundFest.
“SoundFest takes a very well known and well-worn space on campus and reimagines it: this time, as a kind of hybrid of carnival ground and—using the vertical boundary of the various buildings that define the quad—a giant sound basin, or even canyon of sound,” music instructor and DOS adviser Jon Sakata said. “What if the Wetherell quad is populated with all types of sound-musical ‘attractions’ and ‘sideshows,’ from main stage performances of bands made up of students, staff and faculty to a host of off-the-wall interactive sound installations, not to mention food and drink; that was the concept behind SoundFest.”
DOS arranged a similar event earlier this year in the Fisher Theater, where students and faculty occupied various nooks and crannies and pitched in to the harmonious confusion. Listeners had the chance of picking and choosing performances to attend while perusing through the theater. SoundFest accomplishes a similar goal, but in an entirely new environment.
“Our planning was simply based on taking what's there in the quad and rethinking its potentials for sonic intervention: What could we do with Phillips Hall's rear facade? How could we take the space in front of the D-Hall and subvert the notion of ‘entrance,’” Sakata said. “How might we re-gift and re-contextualize the Class of '13 Harkness table? Amidst all the sonic cacophony, what could happen in the very center of the quad?”
After extensive planning, the club members have been working to create a setting ideal for the communal, unconventional occasion.
“We wanted to create it to encounter people to actively engage with sound rather than the typical passive audience, straightjacket concerts that normally take place here where the audience sits still scared to smile,” upper Scott Hermenau, a co-head of DOS, said. “It is also based on breaking down this weird, foolish faculty/student barrier we have.”
“We felt like this event was one of a kind,” the second co-head, upper Sean Lee, added. “There had to be some freer event/concert/exhibition because everything felt too defined,” he said. “There was no space or event that was already existing so we might as well make one for ourselves.”
DOS members are now gearing up for the event and are hoping the innovative event strikes a positive chord on campus.
“How does one respond to mayhem? Run for shelter or join in,” Sakata said. “We have installations that offer both refuge and participatory zeal; but also, we hope that people bring their own instruments and voices to make the entire quad a collective rite of spring, partaking and contributing to the mayhem, the circus, transform what is typically a ‘transition’ space into an unforgettable, multifarious festival for the entire Academy to enjoy.”
But no matter how SoundFest plays out, DOS is still looking to the future for more ways to present radical, pioneering gatherings for the Exeter community.
Sakata said, “Any place, space or building on campus that people are complaining about as ‘weak,’ ‘problematic,’ or ‘limited’ probably will attract DOS's attention to creatively, critically intervene.”