What would it mean for rooms to have emotions of their own? An Aeolian harp is a musical instrument that is played by the wind. Usually installed in a window, it transforms the movement of air into haunting melodies, creating an ever-changing symphony based on the whims of nature. Imagine if the very walls and objects within a room could express emotions like the Aeolian harp does through sound.
Through projection mapping, a bipolar room was created, fluctuating between a sunny, happy state and a gloomy, stormy state. The idea emerged to make a site-specific installation for the exhibition space, which had been converted from abandoned apartments. Numerous happy and sad memories of the families who once lived there were imagined, stories and emotions that the walls of the apartment building had silently witnessed.
The installation, by bringing the emotional history of the space to life, invites viewers to reflect on the resonance of past experiences within physical spaces. It challenges the traditional perception of inanimate environments, suggesting that spaces, much like people, carry memories and emotions. The result is an immersive experience that blurs the lines between the past and present, the physical and emotional, urging us to contemplate the stories our surroundings might hold.
The accompanying music is Étude Op. 25, No. 1 by Frédéric Chopin, which is also known as “Aeolian Harp.”
