Ancestral symbol
Musically Organizing Unpredictable Interactions
to Create the Sound of a Paleolithic Cave Sign
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This article explains how visitors’ unpredictable movements are
transformed into a consistent narrative musical form by using electronic
devices with no central software to control them in the interactive
installation, Ancestral Symbol. The installation uses a paleolithic cave
sign as the basis for the connection of sounds and images through
the visitors’ movements in the installation room, thus connecting art,
archaeology, and interactivity. This text explains the technology and
sounds and visual materials used for the piece. It also describes how
the visual elements work as loudspeakers and the strategic spatial
distribution of all the elements to organize the installation.
In 2019, I created the visual-sound installation Ancestral Sym-
bol for the Archaeological Site—12 Artists, 12 Visions exhibi-
tion held at the Experimental Archaeology Centre (CAREX)
in Burgos, Spain. CAREX is next to the internationally rec-
ognized archaeological site of Atapuerca, and the exhibition
aimed to build bridges between art and archaeology [1].
The core element I used to connect archaeology and art
was a graphic sign found in paleolithic cave paintings usually
called the claviform [2,3], shown in Fig. 1. This sign appears
in various ways in paleolithic caves, and I used its shape as
a starting point to create the Ancestral Symbol installation.
However, I simplified and stylized it, interpreting it as a
straight line with a deviation (see Fig. 1).
The installation room includes three paintings, 22 dried
gourds, four wood sticks, and four independently operating
electronic devices. Figure 2 shows the installation floor map.
Figure 3 is an illustration of the elements included in the
installation (notice that just three walls are represented—the
fourth wall is empty), and Fig. 4 shows the three paintings
included in the work.
The three paintings in the installation represent a process
by which a singular mark is abstracted to become a symbol
(see Fig. 4). Painting A has one gourd attached to the canvas.
Edson Zampronha (composer, researcher), University of Oviedo, Art History and
Musicology Department, c/ Amparo Pedregal s/n, Oviedo, 33011, Spain. Email:
zampronhaedson@uniovi.es. Website: www.zampronha.com. ORCID: 0000-0002-
2219-3099.
See https://direct.mit.edu/leon/issue/55/4 for supplemental files associated with
this issue.
Fig. 1. The claviform as depicted by its author (left), in its stylized form
(middle), and as read in the time axis (right).
The gourd on the canvas is a metaphor for a mark on the
ground that captures viewers’ attention, but they do not know
what it means. Painting B has 21 gourds attached to it. Meta-
phorically speaking, the viewer compares similar marks and
recognizes that they all share a common shape that can be
abstracted to give rise to a symbol. Painting C has no gourds,
and it depicts graphically the abstracted shape shared by all
marks, (i.e. the stylized claviform).
Starting from different points of view, most archaeolo-
gists agree that the graphic signs found in paleolithic caves
are symbols, although there are only hypotheses about their
meanings [4–6]. For this reason, I freely interpreted the
claviform as a graphic representation of a sound so that the
material aspects of the claviform relate to the visual aspects
of the installation, and its hypothetical meaning relates to
the sounds. Therefore, almost all the sounds in this installa-
tion share the same stylized claviform shape, which is why
the meaning is the stylized claviform shape expressed in the
sounds (the connection between the stylized claviform shape
and the sounds is iconic). In this way, the claviform shape is
read as if it were a kind of score. Moreover, the sequence of
sounds is designed to be listened to as a narrative piece of
music in which its opening is followed by a tension (a devia-
tion) and a resolution (a release), reproducing the stylized
claviform sign in the time axis (Fig. 1). This narrative form
may give visitors the impression that this piece of music “tells
them something,” which is a convenient metaphor to explain
©2022 ISAST
Published under a Creative Commons International (CC BY 4.0) license.
https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02050
LEONARDO, Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 399–403, 2022 399
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cause the temporal musical organization is distributed onto
a spatial organization, which is put to work properly by visi-
tors’ movements. As a result, the complexity of the electronic
devices is significantly reduced.
The electronic devices are very small to make them as in-
conspicuous as possible. Each one includes a motion sensor,
a small programmable circuit board (an Arduino Pro Mini),
a miniature player that plays sounds from an SD memory
card (a DFPlayer Mini), a volume control, and connectors
(Color Plate C).
Each electronic device has a different set of five sounds,
and the Arduino Pro Mini circuit runs the Pure Data soft-
ware to randomly select which of the five sounds is played
each time. However, the five sounds inside each device are
similar. In fact, it is as if each device has one single sound that
is played in five different variations so that visitors always
listen to the same musical idea in different ways, avoiding
mechanical repetition and keeping visitors’ interest in the
installation.
Once a sound is selected, its audio signal is sent to a small
vibration speaker (see Color Plate C). The vibration speakers
do not make any sound. Instead, they transform sound waves
into vibrations, and when they are in contact with reverberat-
ing surfaces such as the dried gourds and the canvases used
in this installation, they vibrate accordingly, amplifying the
sounds that can now be heard. However, as canvases do not
amplify sounds very well, I glued patches of foam board
behind them to obtain a louder sound. Therefore, there are
no traditional speakers in this installation. All sounds come
from both the gourds and the canvases and are modified by
their natural resonance frequencies. The gourds, which have
been used as resonators since ancient times, give the sounds
a specific quality that is likely to be similar to the ones our
ancestors may have listened to thousands of years ago.
the SouNDS
Every sound in the installation is a nonrealistic artistic trans-
formation of recorded sounds, such as sounds from nature.
However, for this text, it is relevant to identify a few char-
acteristics that connect them with each painting. Figure 5
displays the sound waves of three sounds from paintings A,
B, and C. In painting A, the idea of a mark on the ground
Fig. 2. Floor map of the Ancestral Symbol installation as exhibited at CAREX,
Spain, 2019.
the connection between sounds and the hypothetical mean-
ing of the claviform. Besides, considering that its meaning is
a hypothesis that depends on the way an observer interprets
it, the use of interactivity to change the sounds is fully justi-
fied in the context of this installation, as it changes only the
sounds, not the images, since the meanings of the sounds
change according to the visitors’ point of view, whereas the
images are fixed both in the installation and in the paleolithic
caves.
INterACtIvIty
Interactivity is a key concept found in a wide variety of new
multimedia artworks. A sound installation, for instance,
might be responsive to visitors’ actions in such a way that
their actions influence what they listen
to. However, if the sounds and their nar-
rative musical organization relate to the
meaning of the stylized claviform shape
and this meaning depends on the visi-
tors’ unpredictable actions, the challenge
is to put both things together—to obtain
a musically organized result from the
visitors’ unpredictable actions.
In Ancestral Symbol, the solution for
this challenge does not use a central
software to filter the visitors’ actions and
organize the sounds musically. Instead,
the installation uses four electronic de-
vices that work independently, with no
central control. They work efficiently be-
Fig. 3. Illustration showing the elements included in the Ancestral Symbol installation as exhibited at
CAREX, Spain, 2019.
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Fig. 4. The three paintings used in the
installation Ancestral Symbol, 2019.
(© Edson Zampronha)
that calls visitors’ attention is represented by an irregular and
noisy sound (the ground) that attracts your attention and
creates expectations because it has a sudden attack (i.e., it
starts with the deviation). The gourd sounds, but the can-
vas does not, reinforcing the idea of a singular mark on the
ground. Its sound wave is unstable, with sudden ups and
downs, as well as a noisy and complex timbre. Conversely, the
sound from painting B is expressive and contrasting, creat-
ing the idea of a deviation that requires a resolution in this
context. It is less unstable than the sound in painting A. This
one does not sound like an attack. It is noisy at the begin-
ning, but with a sense of pitch at the end, and it is not exactly
claviform-shaped. Also, the sound comes from a gourd at
the center of the painting that causes a few others in contact
with it to vibrate, which suggests multiplicity. In painting C,
the sound wave resembles the stylized claviform closely. The
sound is smooth, clean, and clear in pitch. Painting C has no
gourds; the whole canvas amplifies the sound, intensifying
the idea of generality and abstraction. Finally, painting B also
includes a set of sounds coming from its canvas. These are
background sounds that contextualize all the others.
MuSICAl orGANIzA tIoN AND
SpAtIAl DIStrIButIoN
The four electronic devices detect the visitors’ movements and
launch the sounds. They are attached to the walls at average
waist height or below. They are barely visible; therefore, most
of the interactions are involuntary. Every sound is preceded
by 1.5–14 seconds of silence, which eliminates the impression
of a mechanical response, similar to pressing a button and im-
mediately hearing the same sound again and again. As a result,
visitors have the impression the installation is responding to
them, although they do not know exactly
how it happens.
Due to the placement of the paintings
in the room (Fig. 3), the result is similar to
a quadraphonic sound system: One sound
source comes from the left (painting A),
another one from the right (painting C),
and two from the front (the sound of the
gourds and the background sound, both
from painting B). However, the placement
of the paintings produces an asymmetric
surround sound: Painting C is not across
from painting A, giving the sensation that
its sounds come slightly from the back,
and painting B is displaced to the left.
Fig. 5. The sound wave of one sound from each
painting. The curves at the top of each sound wave
show how they resemble the stylized claviform.
Zampronha, Ancestral Symbol 401
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Fig. 6. A possible sequence of sounds coming
from paintings A, B, and C, creating an imitative
polyphonic texture.
One key point for the construction of a musical organiza-
tion is that the sounds from each painting fulfill a different
musical function. The sounds from painting A function as
an opening. They are like attacks calling attention and trig-
gering an expectation. The sounds from painting B’s gourds
are contrasting and expressive, a deviation from the other
sounds, creating tension that calls for resolution. The sounds
from painting C serve the function of resolution (release).
They are calm and clean, resolving all tensions from painting
B, as well as expectations from painting A. Concerning the
background sounds that come from the canvas of painting
B rather than from the gourds, their function is to create dif-
ferent sound contexts. They last longer (about two minutes)
and are not preceded by silence, which is why they follow
each other without noticeable gaps. In this way, not only do
they contextualize all the other sounds, they also create a
continuity that links all of them. Every time they change,
they create variation by introducing a different context with
a new quality and mood.
Another key point for the construction of a musical or-
ganization is the strategic location each painting occupies
in the room. The strategic location of the paintings and the
different musical functions of their sounds work together so
that visitors’ movements generate a narrative musical orga-
nization whatever direction they move in. As soon as they
walk into the installation (see Fig. 2), the electronic devices
connected to painting A (the blue arrow on its right) and
painting B (the blue arrow on its right) are both triggered. A
background sound from painting B sounds before an opening
sound from painting A, because all the sounds from painting
A are preceded by silence. Note that painting C is hardly vis-
ible from this position. If visitors move further into the room,
the electronic device to the left of painting B is triggered,
and an expressive and contrasting sound is heard, creating a
tension that requires a resolution. Visitors now can see two
other sticks to the right of painting B. When they turn left to
face them (the sticks are visual links between the paintings),
the third painting becomes more visible, and the electronic
device connected to it plays sounds that resolve the musical
tension. If visitors leave the installation at this point, they will
do so while a complete musical sentence is being concluded.
Even if visitors trigger painting A while leaving, they will hear
nothing or very little because of the silences at the beginning
of the sounds. However, if visitors begin to wander aimlessly
instead of leaving the installation, the sounds will start to
overlap in a specific order, creating a polyphonic (imitative)
texture. For example, first visitors will listen to an opening
sound coming from painting A and then to a tension sound
coming from painting B (see Fig. 6). However, visitors may
decide to go back to painting A, and another opening sound is
heard. Now, if visitors decide to move to painting C, another
tension sound from painting B will sound first and only then
will a resolution sound from painting C be heard.
This polyphony could be extended and resolved many
times, creating complex textures that could include repetitions
(painting A could sound twice, for instance). However, sup-
pose a visitor walks into the room and goes directly to painting
C. In this case, a background sound from painting B and an
opening sound from painting A will have already started, and
painting C will function as a release. Finally, all sounds except
the background sounds include silence at the beginning, which
were calculated to avoid excessive overlapping. However, in the
end, painting C will resolve all musical tensions.
Visitors are an essential part of Ancestral Symbol, as in many
present-day interactive installations [7,8]. Also, it is important
to mention that an interactive installation is not an unfinished
work without visitors [9]. Indeed, in Ancestral Symbol, all the
interactivity rules were created in advance, so it is not an un-
finished work despite the visitors’ relevance. As Pinto [10] ex-
plains, in an interactive installation all interactions take place
after the work has been created, so that each interaction is an
actualization. As a result, at least in certain interactive instal-
lations, it is possible to say that artists compose interactions
[11]. That is the case in Ancestral Symbol: Visitors actualize the
previously composed interactions and act more like perform-
ers playing a musical score (because of the actualization each
visitor generates) than like a composer creating it.
In addition to interactivity, immersion is another key con-
cept present in contemporary art [12], particularly because
it offers a different experience when compared with the Re-
naissance concept of a painting as an open window where
viewers are external observers who look through it [13]. In an
immersive installation, visitors become participants instead
of observers, and the Ancestral Symbol installation produces
both a visual and a sound immersion into the work. Also,
the feeling that the installation somehow responds to visi-
tors’ movements through interactivity intensifies the expe-
rience of immersion, resulting in an intensified feeling of
participation.
CoNCluSIoN
In the Ancestral Symbol installation, visitors’ unpredictable
movements are transformed into a narrative musical organi-
zation. This organization is the result of the strategic place-
402 Zampronha, Ancestral Symbol
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ment of the three paintings in the room in connection with
the three specific musical functions fulfilled by the sounds
from each painting (opening, tension, and a resolution). In
this way, time (music) and space (paintings in the room) are
deeply interwoven, and the key piece that connects them is the
visitors’ movements detected by the four electronic devices.
Additionally, the use of a stylized paleolithic claviform as a
basis to connect sound and images works as a deep connec-
tion among all the media involved. If its image is the graphic
support, the sound is its meaning. It is the claviform shape
expressed in sounds—the graphic sign expressed in another
dimension. In this way, the installation as a whole work is
also a metaphor for the experience of walking into a rough
and not easily accessible paleolithic cave thousands of years
ago. It is an immersion in ourselves or in our ancestral past
through interactions with unknown symbols that insist on
telling us that “reality is perceived as consisting of more than
that which everyday vision brings to light” [14].
references
1 Video documentation is available at https://youtu.be/lef_XXlVjig.
2 B. M. de la Campa, Consideraciones sobre los signos en el arte pre-
histórico de las cuevas de la región cantábrica (Santander: Asociación
de Amigos de las Cuevas del Castillo, 2014) pp. 47–48.
3 A. Martínez-Villa, “New Findings in Paleolithic Art in the Picos de
Europa Region (Eastern Asturias, Spain),” Journal of Archaeological
Science: Reports 33 (2020) pp. 1–17.
4 A. George, “Hidden Symbols,” New Scientist 232, No. 3099, 36–39
(2016).
5
J. Nechvatal, “Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux,” Technoetic
Arts 3, No. 3, 181–192 (2005).
6 D. Cameron, “The Symbolism of the Ancestors,” ReVision 20, No. 3,
6–12 (1998).
7
J. Soler-Adillon, “The Intangible Material of Interactive Art: Agency,
Behavior and Emergence,” Artnodes 16 (2015) pp. 43–52.
8 C. Riboulet, “Sobre el arte de los nuevos medios,” Calle14 7, No. 10,
136–143 (2013) p. 140.
9 H. C. Suhr, “The Audience and Artist Interactivity in Augmented
Reality Art: The Solo Exhibition on the Flame Series,” Critical Arts
32, No. 3, 111–125 (2018).
10 J. C. Pinto, “The Status of Interactivity in Computer Art: Formal
Apories,” Citar Journal 3, No. 1, 10–19 (2011) pp. 14–16.
11 L. Hayes and J. Stein, “Desert and Sonic Ecosystems: Incorporating
Environmental Factors within Site-Responsive Sonic Art,” Applied
Sciences 8, No. 1 (2018) p. 111.
12 D. Strang, “Sensitive Chaos,” Leonardo 48, No. 3, 286–287 (2015) p.
286.
13 L. B. Alberti, On Painting (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011)
p. 39.
14 Nechvatal [5] pp. 189–190.
Manuscript received 11 November 2020.
eDson z ampronHa is a composer and researcher with
artistic outputs that include experimental music, sound in-
stallations and performances. He is a professor and researcher
at the University of Oviedo, Spain. Find out more at www.
zampronha.com.
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Zampronha, Ancestral Symbol 403
CoLoR PL ATE C: AnCestrAl symbol: MuSICAlly orGANIzING
uNpreDICt ABle INterACtIoNS to CreA te the
SouND oF A pAleolIthIC CA ve SIGN
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The electronic device, vibration speaker, and dried gourd used in the installation Ancestral Symbol, as exhibited at CAREX,
Spain, 2019. (© Edson Zampronha) (See the article in this issue by Edson Zampronha.)
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