It’s almost midnight on campus and a group of college students are walking back to their dorm rooms after a long night of studying.  As they move toward the University’s plaza entrance, they pass through the library’s columns and are surprised by sounds that emanate from overhead, creating a consonant harmony that changes in pitch and timbre.  They look towards the plaza and see a large misty cloud with a huge clock tower looming above.   Lights flash, and a kaleidoscopic video begins bouncing between 12 monitors arranged around the clock face.  The classic circus song, Entry of The Gladiators, begins to play overlaid by a man reading a poem about time and space. Then, slowly, from the center of the clock, a jester’s head lighted from beneath moves into the night, alerting them that midnight has arrived!  And if that’s not enough, as they pass through the cloud and walk by the clock, they are immediately greeted by a wall of water that dances to music and keeps pace with their movement.  What is it?  It’s the Sonic Plaza!

The Sonic Plaza was commissioned in 1991 by the North Carolina Arts Council as part of a 1%-for-Art project at East Carolina University.  The program’s objective was to place diverse artwork in places where people gather, live, work, play, and learn, throughout the state.   Christopher Janney, an internationally known Massachusetts born sound artist who has created interactive sound and architecture artworks in public places all over the world, was selected to design the multimedia artwork piece within the fabric of the plaza.  Janney decided to incorporate student work from the Universities’ fine arts, communication, and music and dance departments into the design.  Janney says the Sonic Plaza was “designed to activate the plaza and provide transitions from new to old”.

The Plaza consists of four different elements: the Sonic Gates, the Media Glockenspiel, which is controlled by a Galil motion controller, the Percussion Water Wall and the Ground Cloud.  The original columns of the plaza are the basis for the Sonic Gates.  They are cylindrical columns that create a variety of sounds activated by people passing by.  The musical sounds, emitted from hidden speakers in the structure, were intended to encourage passers-by to ’jam’ or create music.

Within the plaza’s 85 foot clock tower sits the Media Glockenspiel.  It is a ring of 24” video monitors with the center displaying graphic symbols of the rising or setting sun around the world over the course of a day.  Unique sculptures, transported from inside the tower out through the center of the Glockenspiel by a Galil DMC-4143, appear four times a day.  At sunrise, a rooster emerges and greets the day with crowing.  To alert that noon has arrived, a horn appears along with a high pitch whistle.  At sunset, a cannon with smoke and cannon fire reveals itself with a thunderous welcome (the university’s mascot is a Pirate).  And finally, at midnight, a jester’s head appears accompanied by circus music layered with sound bites designed by Janney.

In operation from April through October, the Percussion Water Wall has 65 water jets that perform a series of water patterns accompanied by a quiet sound score.

The Ground Cloud is a circle of water-mist installed over a grate in the center of the plaza.  The cloud is multi-dynamic just like the other elements of the plaza.  Lingering 24 hours a day April through October, its size, shape and density changes with the weather. Sometimes it covers the whole plaza like a thick fog and reaches the second story of the library, and other times it takes the shape of a small, misty vapor swaying about the plaza floor.  At night the cloud is illuminated by polychromatic light shining up through the grate.

Although originally designed by Janney, new artwork and ongoing engineering is completed by students.  Carl Twarog, a professor in the School of Art and Design, serves as the Plaza’s curator and describes the plaza as “a lab for students”.  Being curator is a huge responsibility.  Carl and his team must care for and manage all of the plaza’s mechanics which includes sensors, lights, water jets, computers, electronics, and other machinery, as well as a collection of over 500 videos, banks of 1-4 second segments of notes and tones, and sculptures.  And that doesn’t include all the new artwork constantly being created by incoming students.  “Every semester new students make animations for the plaza.  To date there have been between 150-200 art and engineering students who have participated.”

A key aspect of the Sonic Plaza is the automation and synchronization required to run the four shows.  Carl uses a Galil CMD-4143 connected to an Apple MAC to move the sculptures from their place inside the clock tower out through the door in the center of the Glockenspiel.  The MAC runs a JavaScript based program that calculates sunrise and sunset, and sends a pulse to the controller for those shows.  Each sculpture must travel different distances out the door and appear exactly at the apex of its show.  To accomplish this movement, two of the DMC-4143s axes are used to move the sculpture.  One axis commands the trolley motor, a Bodine DC motor powered by a Minarik amplifier, which orients the appropriate sculpture perpendicular to the face of the Glockenspiel.  The second axis commands another Bodine/Minarik combination to move the sculpture out the door to hit the apex of the show.  The two remaining axes of the DMC-4143 are saved for backup if needed.  The MAC also makes sure the correct music files are launched for the shows.

The Sonic Plaza is one of 62 public artworks in the North Carolina Artworks in State Buildings Collection, and is considered the most ambitious and interactive project of the program.   It is a combination of art, architecture, technology, and student participation that creates a lively, interesting public space and a sense of place.