“mailbox music” was an exploratory project based on alvin lucier’s “music on a long thin wire” (1977), with the collaborative participation of santiago doljanin (AR), jordi espuny (ES), karla rodríguez (MX), sofía scheps (UR), albert tarrats (ES).
in lucier´s piece, a wire is tensioned between two bridges. each end is connected to the output of an amplified oscillator producing an electric current loop. The magnetic field (a magnet) interacts with this current by increasing the vibration of the wire. contact microphones on the bridges pick up this vibration, which is reproduced on loudspeakers.
our research was mainly focused mainly on the bridges that collect the cable vibration. after testing with different shapes and materials, the solution that surprised us most was the use of metal bridges, capable of amplifying acoustically the vibration of the cable.
