A new public artwork will allow people using the Bastion Square parkade to trade drum riffs and jazz licks.
The City of Victoria has approved installation of an interactive musical railing for the parkade’s back stairwell. The railing will be equipped with sensors that, as people’s hands run over it, trigger sound and light effects for each of the six floors.
There will be bird songs in the spring, jazz during the Victoria International Jazz Festival and seasonal music at Christmas. There will also be sampled drum sounds, allowing people to trade rhythms back and forth, said Scott Amos of Monkey C Interactive, which is creating the piece.
A series of LED lights, visible mostly at night, will illuminate the railing. The lights will also be triggered by sensors.
“It’s about people interacting with each other,” Amos said Wednesday.
“We’re going to allow people to compose and create. … We want it to be interactive and exploratory.”
Monkey C Interactive aims to have the installation complete before Dec. 31.
Each of the six floors will be equipped with a separate speaker. There will be a “dozen or two” railing sensors for each floor. Amos said there’s potential for thousands of sounds.
Amos, a filmmaker and media artist, will collaborate on the project with his colleague David Parfit, a composer, sound designer and software engineer.
Monkey C Interactive has created other projects, such as the Philliphone beer bottle organ for Phillips Brewery, and Pentralux, a motion-reactive LED wall. The company’s work has been displayed at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Rifflandia and the Victoria Film Festival.
Victoria Coun. Pamela Madoff said such artworks are “designed to ensure that civic parkades are safe and welcoming.”
The City of Victoria also approved a series of murals in the stairwell of the Centennial Square parkade.
The murals will be created by artists Joanne Thomson, Jennifer Johnson and Beth Threlfall in collaboration with local youth.
The city has budgeted up to $10,000 for the artwork in each parkade.
