The “Maxxi-cone”: an artistic masterpiece for outdoor sound propagation

摘要

During the International Competition for the realization of an artistic masterpiece for the ModernArt Museum in Rome, a new artistic sound apparatus have been design: the “Maxxi-cone”. Thislarge apparatus recalls the Kircherian idea of a spiral-shaped tube (cocleato), which couldcapture whispers from the square, amplify the voice, communicate at a distance, send music todifferent rooms, and even could eavesdrop. In the artist’s idea, this modern sculpture looksbackward the Ancient Roman city centre, and captures the typical sound scape of the moderncity into the Museum.In the paper, starting from the original work described in the Phonurgia Nova (1673) the newartistic masterpiece will be introduced and described, considering its acoustic features andcomparing them with the cocleato tube invented more than 300 years ago.