Spatial Sound

Body Echoes (2014)

Lucy & Amanda Morelli

In the context of 4DSOUND, Lucy and Amanda Morelli collaborated on Body Echoes, a transcendent performance integrating traditional Eastern breathing techniques, field-recordings and the spatial dynamics of sound.

While Morelli performs deep-breathing techniques, Lucy processes the live inputs taken from microphones embedded on Morelli's body, utilizing the spatial capabilities of 4DSOUND. During Body Echoes, the listener only experiences organic sounds and vibrations sourced directly from her body, amplified and transformed, so the inner experience of ‘Pranayama’ - the regulation of the breath through certain techniques and exercises - is now fully shared with the audience. In a multilayered feedback process, the sound of Morelli's breathing is enriched by Lucy's signal processing, which Morelli uses as an aural conductor to respond to the sounds Lucy creates. A precious tool to deepen the Pranayama practice itself.

“From left to right, and up and down, I feel the power of the sound system. The humming becomes percussive and starts to turn around my head – and, for a moment, I actually starting ‘seeing’ the sound.”


Body Echoes translates the inner and individual experience of an incredibly powerful meditation technique into a sounding space the audience can fully experience, explore and walk through. The Pranayama practitioner Morelli is able to share with the audience the benefits of what is being transformed from 'breath therapy' into fully immersive 'sound therapy'. So moving from the inner space of the performing subject to the surrounding 4DSOUND landscape, and back to the subject, breath and sound merge in a multidimensional, collective experience.