The exhibition is a museum and, at the same time, an experimental laboratory. It is an instrument of scientific research, but also a knowledge centre open to the public. It is housed in the 17th-century Church of Sant’Elisabetta in the historic centre of Parma. The permanent exhibition of the historical Patanè collection is housed in the six side chapels of the centrally planned church, in six niches containing sound reproduction instruments – from phonographs to iPods – and their sound, in their historical order of appearance.
A pathway made from sound-absorbing carpeting connects these nuclei, accompanying the visitor through areas acoustically insulated by display cases arranged like petals around the listening station. Under the dome, the rectilinear crossing towards the back of the Sala delle Monache encounters a large suspended sound chandelier – at the geometric centre of the dome where there is an acoustic platform and a ring of seats – playing electronic music compositions projected in a concentrated direction, without any dispersion of sound into the surrounding space.
Beyond the central plan, the second room houses the temporary exhibitions and the two canvas acoustic rooms, which differ in colour, size and how visitors use them: the black one is intended for individual listening while the white one is for collective use and, when not in use, is connected to the permanent exhibition, hosting video projections and demonstration sound effects, opening up the movable partition on the short side. Designed for scientific and artistic research, these spaces are conceived as large loudspeakers, sound instruments that can be adjusted and updated over time. In the white room, the perimeter arrangement of a line of state-of-the-art loudspeakers, which can be inspected thanks to acoustically transparent enclosures, allows sound effects to be controlled digitally and opens up new expressive potential for electronic music.
La Casa della Musica
Parma, 2005-2007
Photography Giovanni De Sandre & Lucio e Silvia Rossi
