Montreal's Silophone-for remote recording of 20 sec echo

the Silo #5 grain elevator

Silo #5 is an abandoned grain storage facility in the port of Montréal. A quarter of a mile long and over twenty storeys high, it has a total capacity of five million bushels, or enough wheat to make 230 million loaves of bread. The building was constructed in several stages between 1903 and 1958. The newest part of the building was designed to last for generations, however due to changes in the global grain market and to the general trend of de-industrialization in North America at the end of the 20th century, the building became redundant less than forty years after its completion. Since 1994, Silo #5 has stood empty, and its fate has been hotly debated. The building is situated in one of Montréal's oldest industrial districts, now rapidly being gentrified and renovated for high-tech commercial, luxury residential, and tourism/leisure industry uses.

The portion of the structure used by Silophone is constructed entirely of reinforced concrete, measures 200 metres long, 16 metres wide and approximately 45 metres at its highest point. The main section of the building is formed of approximately 115 vertical chambers, all 30 metres high and up to 8 metres in diameter. These tall parallel cylinders, whose form evokes the structure of an enormous organ, have exceptional acoustic properties: most notably, a stunning reverberation time of over 20 seconds. Anything played inside the Silo is euphonized, made beautiful, by the acoustics of the structure. All those who have entered have found it an overwhelming and unforgettable experience.



the Silophone project
sonic inhabitation of Silo #5

Silophone is a project by [The User] which combines sound, architecture, and communication technologies to transform a significant landmark in the industrial cityscape of Montréal.

Silophone makes use of the incredible acoustics of Silo #5 by introducing sounds, collected from around the world using various communication technologies, into a physical space to create an instrument which blurs the boundaries between music, architecture and net art. Sounds arrive inside Silo #5 by telephone or internet. They are then broadcast into the vast concrete grain storage chambers inside the Silo. They are transformed, reverberated, and coloured by the remarkable acoustics of the structure, yielding a stunningly beautiful echo. This sound is captured by microphones and rebroadcast back to its sender, to other listeners and to a sound installation outside the building. Anyone may contribute material of their own, filling the instrument with increasingly varied sounds.

This project takes cues from transformations of similarly imposing industrial sites in Europe such as La Fonderie in Brussels, Belgium and Emscher Park in Germany’s Ruhr, both of which reactivate abandoned sites by appropriating the mandates of existing cultural programs in their surrounding communities. The Silophone project aims to raise popular awareness of the building and to catalyse activity that will eventually result in the discovery of an appropriate new function for the abandoned elevator.



project description

Instrument

telephone access
Using your telephone, you can enter into — and participate in — the acoustic world of the Silo. More than one person can use the telephone system at once, so when you telephone you may find somebody else already in the Silo. This teleconference system was specifically adapted for use in the Silophone by engineers from Bell’s Emerging Technologies Group.
To call the Silophone from North America: 1.514.844.5555
From the rest of the world: 001.514.844.5555
Wait until the second ring, then start talking.

audio website (www.silophone.net)
Go to the play page of this website to access the on-line dimension of the Silophone musical instrument. From this page, you can send pre-recorded sound files into Silophone by browsing through the thousands of uploaded sounds, or by uploading your own soundfile.
Special thanks to Étienne Désautels and Simon Piette for the design and implementation of this participative web-based instrument, and to Société des arts technologiques for development, connectivity and bandwidth.
play the Silophone

sonic observatory
Located in the old port of Montréal, a few hundred meters from Silo #5, the sonic observatory acts as the physical manifestation of the Silophone and is immediately and permanently accessible to the general public. The sonic observatory is equipped with a microphone allowing people to contribute sounds to the Silophone, and two loudspeakers allowing them to hear the echo of their voice. The installation has been open and accessible day and night, winter and summer since November 2000.