Kaleidoscope

About this piece

A kaleidoscope rests on a white marble table, spilling coloured light across the veins. Its chamber is filled with liquid, so the glass inside never quite settles: turn it and the pieces swirl, tilt it and they sink slowly to the low side, shake it and they scatter into a new arrangement. Every pattern is the real arrangement in the chamber, seen through three mirrors and lit by a lamp that changes colour with the song. Then look inside and keep going: through the lens, down the mirrored tunnel, into the drifting glass itself, to the disc at the far end.

Field notes

Turn the instrument and the melody brightens and drifts across the stereo field as the glass swirls. Tilt it and the pieces drift and ring against each other as soft glass ticks, tuned to the chord of the moment; on headphones the glass's sounds circle your head while the music stays in front.

Leave it alone and it keeps playing quietly: the drifting pieces sound sparse glass tones from the harmony, busier for a while after a turn or a shake. Shake it to scatter the glass; a brief tape wobble passes, then the next arrangement of Diving Station enters on the bar.

Scroll to travel inside: through the lens, down the mirror tunnel and through the glass to the end disc, an original homage after Geogaddi. On the table the music sounds muffled, as if from inside the tube; it opens as you reach the lens, then the room gives way to a long tube echo. The light behind the glass shifts from amber through rose and deep red to gold and teal with the song's sections. Turn at the disc to stay with the current phrase.

In the details