Well, Renzo Spiteri and Vince Briffa did just that a couple of months ago in order to create one of their most imaginative projects yet. Between Renzo’s percussionist genius a

nd Vince’s expertise as a multi-media artist they came up with Re:Public, a month- long exhibition which was one of the events marking Cork as the European Cultural Capital 2005.

Using things such as car rims, plastic jerry cans, empty gas cylinders, shards of old pottery and even compressed paper for insulation, they built an interactive installation which the public could walk through, banging away at any object to their heart’s content to create musical sounds.

Microphones picked up the sound being made by each person, which were then recorded on CD, resulting in a unique musical composition for each person to take home with them.

“The project involved setting up a 6 x 10 metre space-frame and creating this walk-through for people to experiment on sounds using raw materials from recycling plants. Our idea was to incorporate technology and recycled material, giving it a new use,” they explained.

Vince took care of the aesthetic point-of-view of the project while Renzo looked for the right sounds.

Having to work within the constraints of the gallery presented its own challenge as there was a large-scale model of the city of Cork which could not be moved. Then there were the logistics.

“Organising the transportation of the stuff was not easy – it meant filling half a container which travelled through France, leaving three weeks before to make sure it arrived on time. Funnily enough, we even had to put a value on the container for insurance purposes. But this was all junk! So we just put it at Lm10. We first built the entire project here, so we knew how it would look, then dismantled it and packed into boxes. It’s a good thing we had prepared everything beforehand because a lot of time was spent rigging the space frame,” said Vince.

The result can be compared to an interactive museum.

“We wanted to see if it worked as an art piece as well as an interactive piece. We had to calculate visitor flow because we could not have people getting jammed at one particular point. So everything had to be carefully timed. We set up a room with a DVD explaining the whole project, and once people watched that, they were assigned to one of the students from the Audio College in Cork. The students helped them out to demonstrate what kind of sounds could be made from the material and how they could interact with each piece. As they created sounds they were recorded on hard drive. Then each visitor went into a computer station, and the same students would show them what they could do with the different soundscapes, creating a whole composition with the computer through editing, cutting and pasting.”

This was all for free and some visitors even came back again and again. It was also popular with schools while a percussion group from the area used it frequently as well.

“As far as we know, this is the first time that someone has ever done something similar. Apart from being a cultural project, it is also important for its educational and conservation aspects. The project offers many possibilities: to theatre groups and music groups. One can even adapt a performance with the sounds created. It is a way of fusing different forms of art. It is also family- friendly as the materials are very accessible to children,” Vince and Renzo pointed out.

Luckily all this hard work did not end when the exhibit was dismantled. The whole database was taken back to Cork’s Audio College to be used for research purposes. All the bits and pieces were also left there as some musicians wanted to use it – so it is really being recycled!

The most obvious question is whether we will be able to experience this project here as well. Renzo and Vince hope so.

“Ideally we want to devise this piece to be mobile to be used in different villages. In a way we are lucky here because there is less bureaucracy for something like this. We went to WastServ and got whatever we wanted since everything is in one place. People even give you things like car rims. Also, the recycled newspapers here come in convenient small batches…whereas in Ireland they wanted to give them to us in 1 tonne batches which was way too much.”

Meanwhile, Renzo and Vince’s experiences abroad have encouraged them to launch a new website www.artsoundcreative.com. This will serve as a meeting point for international and local artists, to exchange ideas on contemporary art, sound and music.

Vince and Renzo’s participation in Cork 2005 was made possible by Richard Muscat, Ambassador to Ireland, WasteServ, Malta Tourism Authority, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Malta Council for Culture and the Arts. Special thanks go to Permanent Secretary from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, Peter Portelli.