News

November 2011: Impossible Ecologies at UCD

In October 2011, I presented a series of lectures within a new art and science module being developed at University College Dublin (UCD). These lectures focused on contemporary sound art practices and how they cross over with scientific working methodologies, comparing the means of experimentation found within these two disciplines.

Following the lectures, I ran a workshop called Impossible Ecologies. This workshop focuses on combining field recordings originating from different natural and urban environments into Impossible Ecologies, acoustical assemblages in which the sounds of animals and locations which could not exist together in reality are allowed to converge in the form of temporary multi-channel sound installations.

During the workshop, students search for sounds in a database of field recordings, downloaded from the website www.soundtransit.org. The students then select sounds that they want to combine, and come up with a short description or theme describing how these sounds might be related, or why they are curious to present them as an assemblage / installation.

Once the sounds are chosen, students have the opportunity to 'install' the sounds in a small six-channel playback system. This allows them to quickly set a few key parameters that determine how the sounds are combined (via a software interface) and distribute the sound within various locations (in this case, academic buildings at UCD) using small loudspeakers, in order to explore how the sounds might be spatialized within an architectural setting.

When each iteration of the installation is set up, the students make a quick documentation of their project using a camera and a set of binaural microphones and digital sound recorder.

August 2011: Distributed Urban Sound Environments at ISSTC

I presented a paper titled Distributed Urban Sound Environments: Extending Site-Specific Sound Strategies for Public Urban Spaces at the Irish Sound, Science, and Technology Convocation (ISSTC) 2011 in Limerick. The abstract for the paper is included here:

"This paper develops an understanding of site-specific sound installation as developed through the artwork of Max Neuhaus, the praxis of Brandon Labelle, and the research program of the Urban Sound Institute (USIT) project. Through these projects, the paper will briefly explore how site specific sound practices focused on preserving, augmenting, or rendering perceptible the relevance of the sonic, architectonic, and social properties of various sites have evolved in relation to the fields of contemporary art, architectural experimentation and theory, and sensory urban design."

"After demonstrating the historical trajectory of these forms of sound installation, the paper explores the possibility of developing these models of sonic production as they might be extended across larger, more complex and potentially composite urban regions, relying on ubiquitous computing resources, low-power playback units, distributed sensor networks, and ambient intelligence systems."

"Following an introduction to the technologies involved in implementing these distributed acoustic networks, the paper develops its primary focus through a discussion of the potential of public spaces facilitated by these projects. These spaces are discussed from the perspective of the urban designer as elements of a multi-modal urban planning model, which prioritizes a consideration of urban experience and phenomenology within the design process. Distributed urban sound installations will also be discussed from the perspective of the public listener, as spatially composite urban structures that contrast the more focused acoustic interventions discussed in the beginning of the paper."

July & August 2011: Commonage

Artist Rhona Byrne invited me to help her develop the installation When Things Meet for the Commonage project in Callan. The installation consisted of a sculptural element immersed in a river under a small highway overpass, accompanied by a four-channel sound environment installed under the bridge. As pedestrians walked along the footpath under the bridge, the sounds of traffic, human voices, cattle, birds, and bats passed in a procession through the four-channel speaker system installed overhead, bisecting the real sounds of cars driving over the bridge. I recorded the sounds for When Things Meet near the site of the installation and at a workshop in Callan. Byrne and I planned the physical installation, and I created a simple PD patch with variables to allow her to fine-tune the timing / pace of the sound environment.

The Commonage project - curated by Rosie Lynch - sought an active, project-driven dialog between artists, architects, and the working context / community of the small town of Callan. For more information visit: www.commonagecallan.com.

Summer 2011: The Literary New Music Trail

I worked as system designer / developer for The Literary New Music Trail 2011, a project organized by the Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) and funded by Dublin City Council. This project was comprised of both an interactive sound installation situated in St. Patrick's park in Dublin, as well as a Layar-based listening trail, accessible through iPhone, Android, and Symbian smartphones. This project presented an urban mediation that exposed links between Irish writers, contemporary Irish composers, and various locations within Dublin's evolving cityscape.

The installation in St. Patrick's park was based around battery-powered, motion-sensor-triggered sound playback units that I designed using Arduino microcontrollers equipped with MP3 playback and SD storage shields. These units were installed in alcoves along the Dublin Literary Parade, a series of plaques commemorating Irish writers. When triggered by passersby, each unit played back part of a composition by a contemporary Irish composer, selected from the CMC's archives. Each selected composition was somehow inspired by the writing of the author featured in the given alcove.

The virtual music trail - designed using the Layar augmented reality browsing environment - allowed listeners to continue to explore the connection between contemporary Irish music and the Irish literary tradition as they traversed the south side of the city. Following a trail accessed on their smart phones, listeners navigated between locations that were historically relevant within the Irish literary scene. At each location, listeners could access compositions selected from the CMC's archives over their headphones, while reading short texts explaining the linkage between place, writer, and composer.

For more information visit: http://www.cmc.ie/musictrail/

September 2010: Presentation at the SoundActs Conference in Aarhus (Denmark)

I will be presenting a paper entitled Exploring Real-Time Locational Input in the Design of Responsive Sound Installations Situated in Public Space at the SoundActs Conference in Aarhus, Denmark.

Abstract:

"This presentation outlines a methodology for designing sound installations that accomplish specific functions in distinct public spaces by responding to site-specific locational dynamics. Recent research in urban sound design demonstrates the validity of using sound installations as concise design artifacts for structuring public spaces by altering and augmenting the pre-existing sound environment. Installations designed with attention to site-specific details approach their referent sites with the aim of producing atmospheres that are distinct, meaningful, and potentially maintained over long durations as sustainable layers integrated within particular locations. As these sound installations often function with the intent of amplifying dynamic elements of architecture and public space that are not activated through more traditional design, their potential to be programmed as intelligent, responsive systems represents a unique challenge. This paper presents models for sound installations that incorporate mechanisms to respond to site-specific locational input. It explores a variety of different real-time input signals (including sound, pedestrian movement, the flow of vehicular traffic, light conditions, and local weather conditions), focusing on how these signals are mapped to different parameters determining an installation’s sonic output in order to produce different effects in relation to the perceived atmosphere and use of a given site."

June 2010: Project Development with the Interrogative Design Group at MIT, Boston (USA)

Out of There by Krzysztof Wodiczko installed at the ICA in Boston.

During June, I spent some time at MIT working with Krzysztof Wodiczko and the Interrogative Design Group, developing sketches for a new project that might extend The Veterans Project series. I was working on developing a flexible audio environment that might be integrated both into a participatory design process as well as into final gallery-based installations such as Wodiczko's recent project at the ICA in Boston.

This collaboration grew out of a correspondence between Wodiczko and myself initated by Fire Station Artists' Studios in Dublin, regarding a concept for a permanent light and sound installation to be integrated into Dublin's Docklands.

I worked with Wodiczko's assistant Robert Ochshorn to develop a simple yet extensible ambisonic playback / spatialization environment that met the specific needs of the complex narrative structures anticipated for future projects in this series.

A description of this playback / spatialization environment can be found here, and a zip archive containing the main Pure Data patches can be downloaded here. These patches require PD-Extended and the [ambicube~] object (used for ambisonic spatialization) produced by the Centre de Recherche Informatique et Création Musicale in Paris.