Shard-Speakers (2022)

The Shard-Speakers are sculptures which can be used to create multichannel sound sculptures, musical performances, or hybrids of both. The Shard-Speakers are made from pieces of broken crystal singing bowls (quartz crucibles), with transducers attached via epoxy resin, and resting atop hollow resonators. The speakers are driven by small LePai Class D amplifiers; any audio input can be plugged in via a 3.5mm stereo jack.

Possessing distinctive timbral qualities and kinetic behaviors, the “speakers” function as both non-neutral audio playback devices, and electroacoustic instruments in themselves. 

As of June 2022, 8 shard-speakers have been produced (originally devised as a performance set, and an installation set).

Various audiovisual documentation exists.


PHOTOGRAPHS

PERFORMANCE VIDEOS

Infrequent Seams Streamfest from Anastasia Clarke | AC Diamond on Vimeo.

Video courtesy of Infrequent Seams.


INSTALLATION VIDEOS


Studio documentation of Ode on Crushed Matrices, audio composition for shard speakers, 2023

Ode on Crushed Matrices - Excerpts / Work Sample from Anastasia Clarke | AC Diamond on Vimeo.

SOUND

Beyond Hexagons by AC Diamond is an album-length edit of sounds from the installation and a live performance given at Scholes Street Studio for Infrequent Seams Streamfest on June 17, 2022. The recording will be released on cassette + digitally by Infrequent Seams in August 2023, as a part of their K7 Commissions Series. Follow Infrequent Seams for release updates.

RESEARCH

A research paper, Shard-Speakers: An Inquiry into the History and Origins of Quartz Crystal Singing Bowls, and their Musical Possibilities, was published as a part of the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) 2023 Paper Proceedings in Mexico City.