This artistic research contemplates the notion of space in composition through a sensory, conceptual, practical, and artistic approach that allows one to move among its various dimensions. The sensory approach took the form of a “space journal” and the development of an archaeoacoustic protocol, and an on-site,experimental, exploratory protocol, both of which are presented below.

My research also sought to develop a conceptual and technical toolkit to facilitate the integration of space into musical composition: a typology of spatial configurations, notation conventions, conducting gestures, terminology, possibilities, and limitations. To this end, I offered workshops at the Royal Conservatories in Mons (ARTS²) and Liège, and I conducted interviews with sound artists and professionals.

In composition, space is customarily considered to be a musical parameter. The texts, arrangements, and compositions created as part of this research process seek to expand this conception of space and to exploit its ensuing possibilities. As the question of spatialisation of sound through amplification has already been extensively addressed, this research has focused mainly on acoustic music. Although music spatialised through amplification was not considered here, this does not exclude the use of electronics in the compositions. The works explore various aspects of spaces ranging from the fictional (A Walk Through Mnemonic Spaces, for quintet, 2024) to the forbidden (The Ocean’s Guest, electronic, 2024), and to the interior and pictorial (Human Landscapes, for piano and laptop, 2023), as well as spaces for dance (Humanimal, suite for wind quintet and percussion, 2024), and ritual spaces (…de la bouche d’une Pythie, for ensemble, 2025).

Listening to Thinking Space: developing a protocol

Genesis of the protocol

The on-site exploratory protocol “Listening Thinking Space” is the result of vocal experimentations conducted in various urban, historic, and natural spaces. It adopts an embodied approach through which presence, listening and voice reveal the symbiotic relationship between sound and space. To our senses, space is formless; it exists in a state of becoming, until the sound projected into it defines its shape. It is a cornucopia, whose inexhaustible resources are just waiting to be revealed. The matter that composes our bodies is a simple thickening of space; it too is recruited by sound and discovers an extension of itself in its vibrant environment, like birds whose sound territory is an extension of their bodies.¹

This protocol contains traces of various thought currents and disciplines. Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological approach endows this vision with an embodied, situated presence and a space that extends past geometry.² “Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology identifies and describes the plurality of spatial experiences, ultimately tracing them back to a general subjective space–that of perception.”³ And more importantly, “Our body does not begin in space; it belongs to space.”⁴ Then, the repertoire of sound effects devised by the research group CRESSON provided precious insight into the perception of sound within built spaces.⁵

Researching sites with remarkable acoustics led me to the work of Iégor Reznikoff, which proved particularly fertile. A pioneer of archaeoacoustics, Reznikoff has explored the sound properties of caves, which led him to establish a correlation between the presence of wall paintings and the singular acoustic properties of such spaces.⁶ Before working on the Listening to Thinking Space protocol, I developed an archaeoacoustic protocol on the basis of several scientific articles that involved experiments in caves in Ariège, France, and in Spain. Its rigorous appearance and focus on the behaviour of sound in a space should not tempt us to forget the thoroughly intuitive, sensorial dimension and the susceptibility to ritual and imagination, something that Reznikoff confirmed to me in an interview with him. The ancient and probably ritual uses that people made of these caves are etched into these millenary spaces. While the data collected by acousticians proves inconclusive, Reznikoff says that the most suitable tools are hearing and voice, which allow an unexpected dialogue across time and space.

The Listening to Thinking Space protocol also reworks a three-part classification proposed by Henri Lefebvre, for whom space is a social construct.⁷ His attempt at a unified theory identifies three dimensions that produce space through a dialectical interaction: perceived space (the practice of space), conceived space (representations of space), and lived space (spaces of representation). These dimensions are also called “formants”, a direct, illuminating allusion to acoustics, as formants are resonance frequencies.

Perceived space is grasped by the body. Conceived space is built on the basis of conventions that allow for its conceptualisation. Lived space accounts for the user’s perspective. The protocol adopts these three dimensions. Playing on the polysemy of the word “conceived” in French (which for Lefebvre concerns authority and the state), we can tie this dimension to the organisation and conceptualisation of space by the composer. The lived dimension concerns the situated nature of both the experience of a space and the aesthetic experience, which offers the listener a space of freedom. In terms of the “production” of space used by Lefebvre, we nevertheless prefer to use the “creation” of space (Armand Frémont) instead, which is more pertinent in this context.⁸

Archaeoacoustic protocol

following the works of Iégor Reznikoff and Michel Dauvois

Methodology for noting and analysing the sound properties of built and natural spaces (subjective and objective measurements).

Material

recorder; notebook, pencil; voice and possibly instruments; tuning fork; computer and sound analysis software.

Phases

field work; data organisation; data interpretation.

Sources

the following examples were drawn from:

• Iégor Reznikoff, Michel Dauvois. “La Dimension sonore des grottes ornées”, Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française. January 1988, Vol. 85, No. 8, pp. 238-246 (R&D, 1988);
• Margarita Díaz-Andreu & Carlos García Benito, “Sound and Ritual in Levantine Art: A Preliminary Study”, in Music & Ritual: Bridging Material & Living Cultures, Raquel Jiménez Pasalodos, Rupert Till, Mark Howell (eds.), Publications of the ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology, Vol. 1 (­Berlin: Ekho Verlag, 2013).

Methodology for the field work:

Selection of acoustic phenomena

determine the acoustic phenomena to be studied. Examples: echo, reverberation and frequency resonances.

Selection of properties

determine which acoustic properties should be studied and quantified. Examples: quality, direction, and number of echoes.

Type of measurement

specify how to quantify these properties. Example (R&D, 1988): counting echoes; reverberation scaled from 0 to 2; RT (reverberation time) greater than 2 seconds; vibration along 25 m; strong increase in intensity.

Selection of the site

demarcate the site and its various spaces.

Sounds

Determine the sound tests. Include sounds at different frequencies and note which ones generate a resonance.

Example 1 (D&G, 2013): claps; two whistles blown at the same time (one in C7/C#7 and the other in G7/G#7); one whistle blown alone (G7/G#7); a man’s and a woman’s voice making an “a” sound together, open frequency; the man alone (low register); the woman alone (high register).

Example 2 (R&D, 1988): humming voice (C1-G3), whistling, harmonics (up to G5).

Positions and movements

determine the test positions.
Example (D&G, 2013): imagine a double test, one facing the wall, and the other with one’s back to it.
Example (R&D, 1988): move to the middle, or along the wall. The responses in terms of resonances may change quickly from one spot to the next.

Recording the tests

after an initial review of the data, conduct additional tests, if necessary.

Data organisation:

Use a spectrogram

(e.g. Sonic Visualiser) as a supplement to compare the auditory impressions with the recorded data (checking the resonance frequencies, counting the number of echoes and the variations in intensity).

Order the data in a table

acoustic phenomena / properties / measurement.

Mapping

Draw up a sound mapping of the site’s acoustic characteristics and singularities. Specify the situation and orientation that yield the best response (note the sound’s direction intensity, and duration, and the point of origin of the response).

Example (R&D, 1988): identification of areas with heightened resonance and strong resonance, sites whose acoustics evoke something (e.g. an animal), and identification of the key resonance frequencies on the map.

Data interpretation:

Analyse

the characteristics and singularities. Detect tendencies.

Example (R&D, 1988): direct correlation between the presence of an acoustic singularity and of cave paintings.

Reassess

the protocol if necessary.

On-site exploratory protocol: Listening to Thinking Space

Methodology for the sensory and acoustic discovery of a site, intended for artists, in preparation for a composition, performance, or installation.

Material

Pencil and notebook; voice recorder to record random impressions; voice and possibly an instrument.

Phases

Moving between the three dimensions: perceived space (sensory); conceived space (the articulation of space / acoustics / composition); and lived space (appropriation)

The perceived space

Crossing the threshold

Bursting into a space.

A stone in a pond: how does such an irruption/disruption upset the site’s configuration?

The body advances, places and replaces itself; it simply thickens the space. What pressure does the body exercise on the canvas of space and time? What curves, what folds are revealed as one approaches it?

Does the place pour into us, or do we tumble into the place? Matter froths: condensation or sublimation, concentration or expansion?

First impression: how does this place impress itself onto us, and what imprint do we make on it?

Then, as we become familiar with the place, imprint gives way to appropriation; space will appropriate our body to disclose itself more fully. Our expanding body will mould itself onto the space, which will border our fingertips like a new set of phalanxes.

In coming to know a place, we give birth to it, and it, to us.

Taking place/yielding place

A fixed point: becoming a place

Enter a place.
Sit in the middle.
Sit down: cross-legged, kneeling, on a chair.

Taking place.

Stay still. And like a chameleon, its eyes hollow, comically glancing this way and that from its big, scaly head, mouth gaping, melt into the scenery.
Like a chameleon, which has the supreme ability to change order as it shifts from animal to mineral, fall still.
Yield one’s place.
Become immobile. Through communicating vessels, welcome the movement of immobile things. Roles reverse: the place comes to life.
To exist as place before coming to life.

Hearing

Breaths grow deeper. Let the sounds come. Just like the “golden ears” who place their exceptional hearing capacities at the service of submarines, sound out this ocean of air. Close your eyes, let your entire body vibrate in response like an ear, to the point of touching the sounds.

The sounds cross the threshold of perception, just a few at first, and then, more of them. We as animals organise them in space with exceptional precision along three axes: elevation, azimuth, and distance. They are within and without, continuous and discontinuous, moving and still. Identifiable and unknown. Intention continuously transforms and reconfigures acoustic space.

Vocal exploration

Stationary sound

First sounds

Make a few ad lib sounds. Rotate while singing (a call, a fragment of a melody, a mantra). A fountain of sound and its undulations: how does the place respond? Does the sound radiate, vibrate, disappear, or fall away?

Vocal impulse

produce brief sonic impulses with the voice (plosives: k, t, p + a) and the body (snap, stomp, and slap) in all four directions. Detect the sound envelope (ADSR) and locate the reverberations.

Setting into vibration

Sustain long sounds (humming, and then the vowels o and a). Vary the pitch to find the resonance frequencies. Sing a few sirens.

Moving sound

Move about

Explore the place as you see fit, changing course to follow the invisible dynamics running through it. Brush up against the walls. Nestle in the contours of the ground. Look above and below. Walk slowly. Turn around. Lie down, roll around on the ground, stretch out as much as possible.

Explore vocally

again by moving through the entire space.

Sing

while walking, like casting a net into the water.

Notice the acoustic singularities

the kinds of reverberation, resonant frequencies, and echoes. Acoustic thresholds and ruptures.

The conceived space

Map

the acoustic singularities. Map your spatial sensations.

The particularities of the place

are the spaces embedded, interconnected, layered, unified, merged, intertwined, fragmented, fissured, enriched, petrified, faded, or formless?

What does this space suggest socially and politically? How is it used? Who uses it? What do they do there? What memories does it hold?

How can we include the singularities of this place and its uses in a composition?

From this reservoir of possibilities, which potentialities do we wish to draw forth? What decisions will we make?

The lived space

Which symbols, which metaphors, which subliminal images emerge?

It is a space of freedom, generation, and transformation, within which the artistic experience situates itself.

Spiral between these various dimensions of the space.

Sonic space in composition

Summoning space in sound

Past the sensory experience and the sound mapping, one has to determine which aspects of the sound’s behaviour in the space can be used in a composition. Let us first distinguish between spatialisation (placing the performers in fixed spots within the space) and movement (when the performers move). The composer can include the sound data in the space by paying attention to the listeners’ auditory reference points, the acoustic specificities of the place, and the movements of the performers and even of the audience.

In the case of a stationary audience (or one that barely moves), the spatialisation can be complemented by increasing the movement of the performers, as the audience will be fully able to distinguish the spatialisation of sounds around them. If the audience is in motion, there will be less control over what they hear. The staging must be thought out very carefully, as the movement of the performers creates the event at certain moments, thus directing the flow of the listeners towards a given space. One could also forsake any planned system and allow the audience to explore freely.

Typologies of spatial configuration

The analysis of the repertoire reveals the following principles: the spatialisation is set, and either frontal or scattered. The movement can concern the performers, the audience, or both. The repertoire considered ranges from early Christian chants to the present day, featuring Thomas Tallis, Giovanni Gabrieli, Adrien Willaert, Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Hector Berlioz, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Charles Ives, Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, Arseny Avraamov, Alvin Lucier, Rebecca Saunders, and Serge Verstockt.

This sampling helps us to identify the most commonly spatial configurations: immersion, movement, playing off-stage, and acoustic imitations (e.g. echoes).

Immersion

• Semicircular Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gruppen (1958)

• Circular (circumference) Iannis Xenakis, Persephassa (1969); Drie, Serge Verstockt (2007)

• Circular (area) Iannis Xenakis, Terretektorh (1966)

• Circular with elevation Thomas Tallis, Spem in Allium nunquam habui (1570); Hector Berlioz, Grande Messe des Morts (1834)

• Spherical Karlheinz Stockhausen, Osaka Pavillion (1970); Luigi Nono, Prometeo;

Movement: wandering or on a path

• Mobile musicians Office des Ténèbres; Luigi Nono, Hay que caminar (1989); Iannis Xenakis, Eonta (1964)

• Mobile audience David Lang, Mile-long opera (2008); Rebecca Saunders, Chroma (2002)

Sound doubling

• Antiphony recitation of psalms;

• Echoes imitation of acoustic phenomena. Monteverdi, L’Orfeo, Acte III, Possente Spirito (1607); Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, Act II, Prelude & Chorus of Witches (1689)

Delocalisation: playing off-stage

• Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question (1908); Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2 – finale (1895); Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique – III, Scène aux champs (1830)

Notation

We can draw certain principles from the choreographic notation systems of Raoul-Auger Feuillet & Beauchamps, Stepanov, Laban, Benesh, Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation, or Conté notation, but these systems are too intricate for the purposes of a composition. The notation will depend on the relationship that is established between the score and the place of its performance:

• a work conceived for a specific place, which makes use of its acoustic and architectural particularities.

• a partially transferable work, by means of an adaptation (Rebecca Saunders, Chroma).

• a work that is not attached to a place.

The notation will also depend on the spatialisation and movement systems:

• Set/frontal: a map of the stage in the concert program usually suffices.

• Set/dispersed: a map of the stage with numbered instructions; a storyboard; markers in the score.

• Mobile (performers and/or the audience): written instructions in the concert program and score; codification of the trajectories, summary choreographic notation, explanatory video.

Directing gestures

It may be necessary to agree on a series of gestures to direct the performers in the space. Soundpainting is a gestural language for instantaneous and multidisciplinary composition invented by Walter Thompson in 1974. Its signs can easily be used in this context. A soundpainting question adopts the following syntax: “who; what; how; when?” A sampling of the most useful signs:

Who? Addressed to a performer

• signed by instrument family

• designating by finger pointing

• numbering groups / performers (signs + numbers)

What?

• “Palette” sign + number to trigger a predetermined section, e.g. a sequence of movements as notated in the score.

• Signs of actions (walking, sitting, synchronising, etc.).

How?

• Signs influencing the density, speed, and localisation of the movement.

When? Initiation of an action

• “play” (exact start) and “stop.”

• “in a few seconds / in X minutes” (approximate start).

Composition: the form informed by the space

The initial impetus for this research dates back to experiments conducted with La Drache, a women’s acapella chorus that sings in unusual environments. This practice of traditional and improvised singing at specific sites put the process of composition into perspective, at which point it became necessary to ponder the consequences of moving to the writing of a score. The unexpected developments of this research included the production of texts and protocols, as well as the writing of compositions in which the notion of space participated in a way other than just as an acoustic parameter. Below is a brief presentation of the compositions whose form is shaped by space to the point that some of them constitute a veritable spatial palimpsest. Other compositions elicit a ritual or private space, and their musical language oscillates between various dimensions of the space. They were written in a spirit of interdisciplinary openness and a continual unfolding of meaning through the senses.

Human Landscapes: music from the studio

For prepared piano and laptop

Piece by the duo LAPS on October 20, 2023 at the 2023 Loop Festival in Brussels.

Objective

to reconcile the sensory experience of a physical space with an interior, mental space, in this case, the interaction between the work in the process of being made, the physical workspace of the studio, and the inner space of the artist at work.

Material

prepared piano (recorded and in real time); field work: collection of sounds in the studio of the artist Caroll Adler as she worked on her series Human Landscapes. Pictorial gestures were transposed to the piano (rubbing, scraping, hitting, and magnetising), bearing witness to the distortion that occurs when passing from one space to another.

The Ocean’s guest

Electronic piece, 2024

Published online on November 1, 2024 by the Sounds of Migration project in the Cities & Memories collection, COMPAS, Oxford University. Spatialised, interactive performance installation on November 6-8, 2024, at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Selected from a call to recompose sounds on the basis of recordings on the theme of migration.

Objective

to highlight the situated nature of spatial experience. Two diverging, inner experiences of a shared physical space.

Material

recording made in Indonesia: two men watch the sunrise, one of whom is able to emigrate, while the other is not. The sound recomposition is based on a representation of the marine element (the role of the sea in the migration journey, especially in light of the fact that the sea can only host us temporarily). Acts of friction and attrition (on rope and glass) highlight the proximity of these irreconcilable experiences.

Humanimal

A suite of four dances for wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, horn, and bassoon) and percussion

Piece by the ensemble Styx, at the Bal Contemporain, Ars Musica, November 15, 2024, in Brussels.

Objective

setting the audience into motion (contemporary dance with a participative choreography).

Material

each composition was conceived in reference to the movement of an animal in a specific context, such as the courtship display of a male bird-of-paradise, the acrobatics of an ermine hunting, a bear walking, and the tarantella, a trance dance that seeks to heal spider bites.

A Walk Through Mnemonic Spaces

For quintet (flute, clarinet, piano, violin, and cello)

Piece by DME ensemble, January 20, 2025, Lisboa Incomum, Lisbon; January 23, 2025, 2025 Loop Festival, Brussels.

Objective

to reconcile the notions of physical, architectural space and fictional, memorial space.

System

the piano (extended and amplified) is treated as a resonant space. The musicians are spatialised (and set precisely into motion) around the audience.

Material

an age-old practice of memorisation defines the entire composition. The art of memory consists of building a memory palace and mentally walking through it, filling it with information and images that capture the imagination. In the composition, the memory palace is presented as a succession of five “spaces” that are crossed and imbued with recognisable sound allusions (nursery rhymes, quotes, animal sounds, alarms, etc.).

…de la bouche d’une Pythie

For ensemble, Piece performed on October 7, 2025, at Festival Mosaïques in Brussels

Objective

spatial palimpsest. The architecture of a ritual space (Temple of Apollo at Delphi) shapes the composition.

Material

The form follows the steps of an oracular consultation, a codified ritual in which each moment occurs in a specific place. The score describes the sacred way (the path leading to the temple), the pronaos and the naos (the vestibule and the main chamber), followed by the adyton, which holds the omphalos (the “navel of the world”), and which concludes with the revelation of one’s destiny. Citation of the first Delphic hymn (one of the oldest Greek melodies). The prophetic powers of the Pythia resonate with the quasi-oracular words of generative artificial intelligence that open new spaces to explore.