Central to the meaning and the use of The Morning Line project is its sonic identity, initially conceived by Matthew Ritchie as an essential element of an “anti-pavilion” a porous structure, neither building nor sculpture, that could generate multiple meanings and uses. This unique structure has been carefully designed in collaboration with the Music Research Center at York University as a technologically innovative venue for emerging composers and sound artists to present new works. Created to be both “site” and “musical instrument”, The Morning Line is a platform for musicians and artists whose work lies beyond traditional boundaries and the programming of traditional concert halls.

A permanent sound installation conceived by Matthew Ritchie will be added to and extended over time by layered and interactive works composed and recorded as scores for the installation, slowly forming an ever-evolving library of digital scores, occupying six distinct indoor/outdoor sound ‘rooms’, created using sound spatialisation techniques and equipment provided by Meyer Sound. In addition to this, a series of commissioned compositions will be performed on various occasions and underline the art pavilion’s character as a space housing the work of emerging composers. Both types of commission will focus on composers working with electro-acoustic media, diverse approaches to composition and the incorporation of acoustic sounds and found media into the interactive audio facility of the installation.

The pavilion’s permanent structure will be saturated with speakers wired through a sensor system running off a responsive software that reacts to proximity and triggers local sound inside the distinct ‘rooms’. This allows the structure to respond to visitors entering the sound ‘rooms’ directly through a scalable form of music, which alters the installation to the various degrees of interaction. As a result the structure itself becomes a new and playable form. Architecture as instrument, played by the visitor, with a new work generated each time they visit.