Summa Fluctus – Giuseppe Acito

Summa Fluctus is a kinetic and audio-visual installation that explores the interaction between the heights (frequencies) of six sinusoidal waves generated simultaneously. The work is based on the research of the French mathematician Joseph Fourier, who in the 1800s formulated the laws that govern the relationship between harmonic waves produced by sound in nature. Later those rules were applied by additive synthesis to artificially recreate sounds with the electronic oscillators that electro-acoustic music composers had been using since the 1950s. The work consists of six suspended, floating speakers that rise and fall to various heights, in proportion to the frequency that they reproduce. The installation is designed to represent organically the concept of the “height” of a sound through changes in the structure of the work, and through the laser projection of sound waves on the back wall. A synaesthetic experience for viewers, who can create their own wave “series” from an interactive console that controls all the variable elements of the installation. The version presented at Artmaker is a prototype on a smaller scale of Summa Fluctus, which maintains all the technical features of the original project.