“SENTIRE L’ARIA” RICCARDO BLUMER 

Year          2018
Place         Santa Monica, California, USA
Client       MADWORKSHOP Foundation
Project       Workshop and performance  
Typology    Instrument
Role          Assistant and designer

The four day long workshop was held by Riccardo Blumer in collaboration with MADWORKSHOP and brought together two dozens of architecture and design students from the greater Los Angeles area. Sentire l’Aria experimented with the construction of the BULLROARER, a xylo-aerophone used in ancient sacred rituals that produces a frequency of about 70 Hz. The first found dates back to the Paleolithic era. Its name varies from culture to culture - Rombo (Italy), Fron Fron (Piedmont, Italy), Bullroarer (America), Churinga (Australia), Purerehua (butterfly in te reo, Maori), etc - and it is always associated with the sound that it makes, which is similar to thunder, storm, wind. Its rotations, shape, material and other variables determine a different sound and timbre. The workshop participants testeed the mechanics of sound through the construction of their unique wooden bullroarer and performed its usage at the housewarming for MADWORKSHOP’s gallery space in Santa Monica.

© Photos MADWORKSHOP

1. Construction


2. Testing


3. Critics