VATICAN CITY – In a landmark collaboration uniting art, architecture, and audio technology, Meyer Sound has provided the technical foundation for Silent Echoes of a Great Sound Sculpture, a site-specific installation by internationally renowned sound artist Bill Fontana.
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Installed in the Portico of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, this extraordinary work uses high-resolution sound systems to reveal the “silence” of the Campanone—the Basilica’s largest and most symbolically important bell—transforming it into a richly textured soundscape of overlapping tones.
Fontana, long known for his explorations of sympathetic vibration and acoustic resonance, used accelerometers to capture the nine-ton bell’s internal vibrations, which are normally inaudible, and MAX/MSP software to shape them into a resonant auditory experience. The composition, created with support from engineers at IRCAM in Paris, plays back daily in timed intervals through a 12-channel Meyer Sound system discreetly integrated into the Portico. Visitors encounter the sound sculpture as they pass through the Portico before entering the Basilica, and again as they exit through a parallel corridor—two moments of reflection framed by sonic revelation.
The realization of the project relied heavily on the close collaboration between Fontana and Massimo Carini of MAC Sound, Meyer Sound’s Italian distributor, who also played a key role in securing Vatican approval. Prior to installation, Carini staged a temporary four-channel demonstration in the Portico using ULTRA-X20™ compact point source loudspeakers and a Galileo® GALAXY Network Platform, presenting to Vatican officials. ”When the Cardinals heard the piece, they said, ‘We have never heard anything like this before,’” Carini says. “It was very moving for everyone.”
Following approval, Carini returned with the full 12-loudspeaker Meyer Sound system, which comprises 8 ULTRA-X20 loudspeakers and 4 USW-112P™ compact subwoofers. The system presents the complex textures of Fontana’s composition as it evolves throughout the vaulted interior. “It was a very reverberant space,” says Carini, “but we knew the Meyer Sound system would deliver direct, intelligible sound.”
Fontana, a onetime student of John Cage, has long viewed listening as an act of creation, in part by recognizing patterns and relationships. For him, the Campanone’s unheard voice represents a kind of memory, a living echo inside the architecture. “These massive bells are built to vibrate,” says Fontana, explaining that even when the bells aren’t ringing, they’re listening. “And when surrounding noises match their resonant frequencies, they begin to respond. And it’s a very beautiful, interesting sound.”
Curated by Umberto Vattani and Valentino Catricalà for the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee celebrations, Silent Echoes is expected to remain in place through the end of the year. This is Fontana’s second major sound work in Rome with Meyer Sound’s support; his previous project, installed at Rome’s MAXXI Museum in 2014, explored the sonic dimensions of ancient Roman aqueducts. “I’ve known Helen and John Meyer for years, and they’ve supported a number of my projects,” Fontana explains. “What’s great about them is they not only make this amazing loudspeaker systems, and these digital brains to work with them, but they’re very open to ideas.”
“When you’re creating a work of sound art for a place like this—at the entrance to one of the most historically important buildings in the world—you want to do it the best way possible,” he continues. “The team I had—Massimo, IRCAM, and the local support in Rome—made that possible. It worked well.”
For Meyer Sound, the installation continues a longstanding commitment to enabling creative expression in even the most acoustically and architecturally complex environments. From ancient Roman aqueducts to the sacred thresholds of St. Peter’s, Meyer Sound systems are designed to preserve the integrity of the artist’s vision—anywhere sound takes shape.
