Tarek Atoui, THE SUBBASS PROTOTONE

As part of the project WITHIN, Tarek Atoui has developed nine new instruments and a sound massage kit which expanded notions of hearing, beyond orality and are activated on the occasion of concerts and exhibitions.

The SubBass Prototone is a 2 x 2 x 2 m organ pipe that one can enter and play from inside. Designed by Johannes Goebel in the 1980s, it is a giant a Helmholtz resonator and the frequency range of this analog wind machine is at the bottom end of hearing, where one can only experience sound by feeling it with the hands or the body. Helmholtz resonance is the phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity, such as when one blows across the top of an empty bottle. The name comes from a device created in the 1850s by Hermann von Helmholtz, the Helmholtz resonator, which he used to identify the various frequencies or musical pitches present in music and other complex sounds. 1

The Subbass Prototone
Tare Atoui
Designed by Johannes Goebel

Top image : The SubBass Protone, Photo: Thor Brødreskift, Courtesy Bergen Assembly.

1. The SubBass Protone

Work

The Organ Within
– Tarek Atoui with Léo Maurel and Vincent Martial

The SubBass Prototone
– Tarek Atoui with Johannes Goebel

The 0.9
– Tarek Atoui, Greg Niemeyer, Perrin Meyer and Jeff Lubow

4 Iterations on Drums
– Tarek Atoui with Thierry Madiot

The Sub-ink
– Tarek Atoui

True Laptop Quartet
– Tarek Atoui

The T1
– Tarek Atoui

The Ouroboros
– Tarek Atoui with Espen Sommer Eide

33 Soft Cells
– Tarek Atoui with Kari Telstad Sundet

The Sound Massage Kit
– Tarek Atoui with Thierry Madiot

Readings

When We Met
— Sandra Terdjman & Tarek Atoui