Vibraceptional Plate (2024-)

by Jan St. Werner

Sound can set matter in motion, and vice versa: vibrating matter can emit sound waves. The vibratory quality of acoustics—the physical, immediate, and direct impact of sound on bodies and objects—is the subject of the Vibraceptional Plate, a public platform for experiencing and experimenting with vibration. Visitors are invited to step on the plate and explore the resonant chamber that is their own body, listen to their voices being modulated, make scribbled drawings, or observe patterns that appear when grains are poured onto the plate. Objects can be also placed on the plate to observe their performance under seismic impact. This participatory artwork highlights the inherent instability and pulsating energy present within and around all solid matter. The tectonic nervousness of Zagreb transcends into an urgent yet playful investigation of wavespace.

Commissioned by SONCITIES, the Vibraceptional Plate serves both as a vibrating structure and a platform for investigating vibrational perception, which Jan St. Werner refers to as ‘vibraception.’ This project stems from St. Werner’s long-standing interest in sound as a spatial practice and his creation of anarchic architectures that use sound and psychoacoustic phomena to challenge traditional architectural forms. The Vibraceptional Plate extends St. Werner’s collaboration with SONCITIES in exploring the potential of vibrational architectures—those that prioritize vibrational phenomena, including audible and inaudible sound, seismic waves, and mechanical waves—to disrupt and reorient architectural thinking. Whereas traditional architecture is often associated with stability, fixity, and permanence, vibrational architectures are characterized by their instability, fluidity, dynamism, openness, and permeability. Vibration creates anarchic spatialities—forms and processes that cannot be contained, predicted, or planned. As such, vibrational architectures offer fertile ground for reimagining architectural design.

Workshops connected to the Vibraceptional Plate will be conducted by a group of local and international scholars for architecture and art students in Zagreb, who will be invited to imagine what vibrational architecture could be. These students will design new vibrational architectures, which will be shared on the SONCITIES website and in future publications. As a participatory public artwork, the Vibraceptional Plate invites anyone to create, experiment, and explore the realm of vibrations and wavespace.

The Vibraceptional Plate is being exhibited for the first time at the Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb, as part of the exhibition ‘Vibraception: Investigations in Wavespace,’ curated by Ana Škegro and opening on 20 September 2024. It was conceived by Jan St. Werner and built by Michael Akstaller. 

Concept and design: Jan St. Werner
Engineer: Michael Akstaller
Commissioned by: SONCITIES
Curator of VIbraception exhibition: Ana Škegro
Vibrational architecture workshop conveners: Jan St. Werner, Nikola Bojić, Brett Mommersteeg, Gascia Ouzounian, Ana Škegro
Vibraception exhibition poster: Rupert Smyth
Photos and video of Vibraceptional Plate: Sanja Bistričić Srića
Acknowledgements: Ana Škegro, Nikola Bojić, Damir Gamulin, Polly Nuttgens, Diana Rodriguez, Rudy Schmidt, Olivia Thornton  

Poster by Rupert Smyth