by Hildegard Westerkamp and Norbert Ruebsaat

an acoustic environment for a group exhibition of the "Zone of Silence Project",
Museum of Quebec, Quebec City, Dec 85/Jan 86

In December/January of 1984/85, twelve artists from four cultures camped together in the so-called Zone of Silence in north central Mexico to explore the desert environment through their respective disciplines and make art. The participants were: Richard Martel, visual artist; Silvy Panet-Raymond, choreographer/dancer; Lise Labrie, sculpturess; and Jeanne McDonald-Pourier, poet; from Quebec, Canada.-Wanda Campbell, writer; from the United States.-Domingo Cisneros, sculptor and organizer of the "Zone of Silence Project"; Benjamin Medel, filmmaker; Francisco Perez Garcia, visual artist and poet; Gloria Cano, historian; Carlos Majul, filmmaker; from Mexico.-Norbert Ruebsaat, poet/writer; Hildegard Westerkamp, composer; from British Columbia, Canada.- and the two children Ayesha Cisneros (Quebec) and Sonja Ruebsaat (British Columbia).

The Zona del Silencio is known for its strange landscape formations, unusual plant and animal life, for its odd meteorological activity, and for the fact that the earth's magnetic field seems to have a hole here. Tape recorders don't work in parts of the Zona, compasses go mad, etc.

The Zone of Silence has been studied by scientists (in 1974, the Allende Meteorite landed there, causing a flurry of research activity by NASA), by Native shamans (the country has numerous ritual and healing sites) but never by contemporary urban-based artists.

We camped in the Zone, in an Apache ruin, and did art events, performance, photography, recording, sound-making, story-telling, sculpture, poetry. Zone of Silence Story is an account of some of these adventures. It's made from environmental sounds, poems, stories, music, conversation, plant sounds, rock noise and cricketsong.

Notes to the Acoustic Installation

One of the most striking experiences in very quiet environments is the emergence of the desire to make sounds, language and music. It is striking because the constant bombardment of sound we experience in cities all too often puts us out of touch with this desire.

Zone of Silence Storyis an attempt to recapture some of this primary feeling. It begins with a variety of ambiencesÑnighttime with crickets, setting up camp; quiet day ambience, etc.-and as the piece progresses, it involves the listener more and more in the activity of sound and word making.

1) The first sound on the tape comes from clapping and foot stomping inside the remains of a desert water reservoir. Two parallel walls stand about a metre and a half apart and three to four metres high. The change in sound colour which one hears results from making sound in different parts of this space. The clarity of the soundÑone can hear the subtle changes in harmonics-is possible because of the total silence that surrounded the reservoir. It is an unusual sound, intended as a fanfare to introduce the piece.

2) Cricket's Nightvoice and Arrival Campsite Ambience.It's dusk. A group of us has just arrived, joining the others who have already been camped at the site for a week. We have to hurry to unpack and pitch our tents before dark. The sound elements are: musicians with drums and a horn and voices ushering us into camp; crickets; voices in three languages (Spanish, French, English); children's voices.

3) Rockstories.The desert was strewn with the most amazing rocks. Everyone had their own little rock collection. One day Norbert decided to play a game with Sonja, 7, and Ayesha, 9. They put their rock collection of the day between them on the ground and each of them had to take a turn picking out a rock, looking at it, and then telling a story about it. This section records some of these stories, the talk around them, and poems that Norbert wrote afterwards about the event. Some of the percussive sounds are the rocks, which have a high degree of metal in them, clinking together. Other rock sounds come from holding a handful of small meteorites (that fall like a kind of hail in the Zone) and rubbing them against each other.

4) Sonic Meditations and Star Language.Everyone is lying, star-shaped, heads together at the centre of camp, looking at the stars and doing sound/voice explorations. The event lasted several hours. This short section is an excerpt of the longer recording and concentrates on the word "silence" spoken in three languages. Norbert later composed a poem series, "Star Language," which brings together the sound of the crickets with the image of stars. He speaks it here, as the cricket sound begins to modulate in pitch as a result of tape speed changes. By chance one night a single cricket "sang" directly into Hildi's microphone. Because it was such a close up recording, it lent itself particularly well to this kind of "treatment" (ie. speed manipulation) in the studio. Slowed down to half and quarter speed, this tiny sound begins to disclose its inner complexity and structure.

5) The Truth is Acoustic.In the absence of found sound in the environment (it was almost totally silent) Hildi went out and made sounds. Since the plants, especially the cacti, were all thick and suggested interior spaces, she began to pluck on their spines, rub and caress their surfaces, pound on them with an improvised drumstick. She recorded the resulting sounds very close up, and later worked with these in the studio. After watching her and hearing the recordings, Norbert composed a series of poems.