Garda Paper Mill Debuts Sound Art with Steam and Machine Noise

The première of the piece «Buongiorno per cartiera sola» was performed yesterday morning by the cartiera del Garda, lasting about half an hour between four twenty and five minutes before five. The composition consists of a single note, obsessively blasted against the sky, with no drops or peaks; a very strong puff; it revives by itself from the depths of the shed.

Technical details of the sound and steam

This is steam blown from turbines operating at ten to twelve atmospheres. When the paper breaks, since it’s not possible to stop the machine or reduce the pressure in the turbines while the continuous roll of paper (a strip four meters wide: one thousand to eleven hundred meters pass through per minute) is re-engaged on the correct cylinders, the steam is expelled outside and continues to blow for the entire time needed to resume production.

Repair times and environmental reactions

Yesterday morning, the malfunction must have been particularly severe, because what normally takes ten to fifteen minutes to fix took almost half an hour. No big deal for the guests of hotel Luise, which, having installed and functioning with air conditioning, now sleep with the windows closed.

Impact on residence and surrounding environment

The residents remained to appreciate the exceptional performance during the hour when the morning coolness induces sleep. In the end, in the sudden return to high silence, the song of the blackbird rose. Damn him as well.