I AM THE FOREST
electroacoustic contemporary music
the piece is composed of 5 movements.
total length: 40 minutes
orchestration: voice, alto sax, tenor sax, cello, double bass, electronics.
I AM THE OCEAN
electroacoustic contemporary music
the piece is composed of 3 movements.
total length: 32 minutes
orchestration: voice, alto sax, tenor sax, cello, double bass, electronics.
This music was inspired by the ecological theory ‘Niche Hypothesys’ and deforestation data from Global Forest Watch. Both scientific materialities were re-interpreted after my sonification process was concluded, as explained in section ".1. Going from Data to Art" of this exposition.
In this composition, the music material transverses the orchestration, moving and developing motives throughout the piece. The melodic variations are affected by applying a set of defined extended techniques for each movement, and an increasing level of abstraction that runs throughout the piece.
Inspired by the book Hyperobjects by philosopher Timothy Morton, this composition seeks to create awareness on the topics of ocean pollution and rising sea levels. The electronic sounds were created using data from the EU Global Surface Water joint research center, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The music was created by exhausting the idea of crescendo and interplay as a supportive and multidimensional net. Showing a sweet but sometimes harsh perspective on the end of the world -as we know it.
The sounding result is a forceful, immersive, and mysterious composition, that aims for the listeners’ imagination to feel the changing currents and the rising tides of our world.
Building complex yet compelling sound structures, the music creates the illusion of being part of an unknown culture, a fictitious tradition from the spirits of a mysterious forest.
The music seeks to immerse the audience in a dream-like scene, empowering people to think about the health of the world's forests and the issue of deforestation.
The sounds for this installation were inspired by the book Hyperobjects by philosopher Timothy Morton, and the data for the sonifications was taken from the EU Global Surface Water joint research center, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In this piece, I worked with a predictive algorithm. The algorithm uses live-CO2 input to predict ocean rising levels. How? the code learns beforehand a relation between CO2 and the level of the ocean using historical data, so once it receives new CO2 input, it calculates a new value for the ocean level. This value is used by my code in SuperCollider to create a live-predictive sonification.
This piece invites the audience to listen to the health of our world’s forests and at the same time engage in a deforestation micro-activism practice.
To create the sonifications I used 20 years of data from Global Forest Watch, an NGO created to "offer the latest data, technology, and tools that empower people everywhere to better protect forests".
Throughout the installation, the participants can listen to the sonifications by hugging trees, later plant some seeds, and read a text encouraging them to think about deforestation in a poetic and scientific way.
LOVE IS was created as an etude, to study how people engage and perceive space, using their own bodies to transform the soundscape they listen to.
For this piece, I coded different sounds that are triggered by ultrasound sensors: the sounds are activated when people move around the room. At the same time, the participants are wearing a heartbeat monitor that sends their heartbeat to a computer. This computer uses the heart rate as a number to transform the sounds they are hearing. e.g. a higher rate would mean a higher pitch on one sound, higher dynamic on another sound, and a faster tempo on another.
People are invited to walk around the speakers in the water and feel the vibration of the sound. As with the previous pieces, they will have a QR code to scan, and read about the installation and the way they can interact with it.
Inspired by the scientific sonifications from Jodrell Bank Observatory, Radio Pulsars was created as an etude, to study the interactive potential of scientific sounds through MIDI controllers.
In this piece, I coded sounds mimicking the aesthetic quality of already made pulsars’ sonifications from the Jodrell Bank Observatory. I used data sets from the European Pulsar Timing Array. I also programmed MIDI controllers to start and stop these sounds, and change the speed ratio at which the data is being read, which creates diverse developments in the sound.
Exploring the space
ultrasound sensors (triggers) are set around the room, and when a participant crosses in front of one of them, it activates a specific sound in the computer that was assigned beforehand, flooding the room with a new sounding texture.
Planting seeds
Pots filled with soil, and bags with seeds are lying around the trees. The participants can plant the seeds, water them, plant the around the space or take the pots home to grow a new potential forest.
(in)Between the sounds of science
the sounds of this installation are the same as the ones used in scientific research, but with the MIDI controllers, a bridge is created to travel between the scientific and interactive potential of sonifications.
PDF page 1. The page contains an introduction and instructions, which are meant to reinforce the purpose of the installation, making sure that the participants make use of the tools offered to convey the experience.
PDF page 2. On this page, the participants can read a scientific text next to a poetic reflection on ocean pollution. Both texts aim to confront the participant with an opposite perspective on the same issue.
I AM THE OCEAN.
Hear the wind, that calmly whispers wordless infinities,
and feel the pulse, of the beating tides, in the rising minds.
"This is our soul shadow,
the darkness we cannot own,
the form we cannot name." 1
So hear the wind, as your soul shadow
and feel the form, that cannot be named.
For we love and fear, in tender surrender,
We love and fear, for a soulful end.
Why use live CO2 measurement? most of the CO2 we release into the atmosphere, e.g. from deforestation, is captured by our oceans, making it one of the most serious issues regarding ocean acidification and rising levels. By using a live measurement, the sonification sounds different in Amagerstrand, in Brazil, in a harbor, or in the middle of the pacific. By knowing this, we create in our minds an interrelation between the place we inhabit, the air we breathe, our biosphere, and climate change, as the CO2 we release into the air impacts directly the levels of the ocean.
The sounding result is a forceful, immersive, and mysterious sonification, that aims for the listeners’ imagination to feel the changing currents and the rising tides of our world.
walking around the speakers in the water
by walking around the speakers, people can feel the vibration of the sound in the water or listen to the sonifications from the speakers that are not fully submerged. The participants are also welcome to dive and listen to the speakers which are underwater to perceive the live-predictive sonifications in another sounding environment.
Materials.
transducer w/amplifier
plant pots
native seeds
soil
mp3 player
Coding language.
Supercollider
Hugging a tree
the sonifications are played using transducers connected to trees, so the tree works as an amplifier. By hugging the tree, the participants can feel the vibration of the sounds, and by positioning their ears against the trunk, they can hear the sounds of deforestation.
Wearing the heartbeat monitor
these monitors are the ones sending the heart rate to the computer, once every second. When the rate is received, it interacts with the sounds that are being played at that moment, changing the different qualities of the soundscape!
Entering into a playful starry night
In the room, there are two MIDI controllers connected to a small computer. When the participant presses a button on the controller, the computer creates a sonification assigned to that button beforehand. Data of a star is transformed into sound, and by moving the knobs, the reading speed of data changes. This produces alterations in the outcoming sound, so what sounded percussive is transformed into strange melodies, allowing small nuances to be amplified by our curious interaction!
In the installation, two MIDI controllers are positioned in front of each other. The participants enter the room, and by pressing buttons on the controllers, they play the sound of the stars.
As a sounding result, complex and surprising textures and sonic movements are created, capturing the attention of the participants in a playful interactive environment.
When my father passed away, I remembered one of the most beautiful talks we had together about love, and what love was for him. Still today, his words are echoing in my heart.
Reflecting on this memory, I thought that even though what love is, is different for every being, there is always an element of presence and strong emotionality. Following this line of thought, I created this installation, where presence is translated into our movements around the room, and emotion is translated into the beatings of our hearts.
The measurement of CO2 is going to be captured by a sensor next to this computer. With these numbers, the computer predicts the sea level based on a predictive algorithm. Basically, we are sonifying the environment through this algorithm, which learned how to predict sea level based on the historical data provided with the data sets.
Entering the space
People scan a QR code to access an online PDF with an introduction, a set of instructions, and a reflective and informative text about deforestation.
At the moment of delivering this exposition, this installation is still a work in progress. The worldwide electronic shortage supply and the delay in funds allocated to this project, in conjunction with the expenses of the installation, delayed its final stage (technological production) for two months, setting a new try-out date by the end of July.
Materials.
Heartbeat monitor
Ultrasound sensor
Raspberry pi
ESP32 wifi board
Coding language.
Phyton
Supercollider
Arduino
Materials.
Raspberry pi
CO2 sensor
ESP32 wifi board
JBL waterproof speakers
Buoys
Coding language.
Supercollider
Python
Entering the space
People scan a QR code to access an online PDF with an introduction, a set of instructions, and quotes from Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar about love.
Entering the space
People scan a QR code to access an online PDF with an introduction, a set of instructions, and poetic and scientific texts about Neutron Stars.
PDF page 1. The page contains an introduction and instructions, which are meant to reinforce the purpose of the installation, making sure that the participants make use of the tools offered to convey the experience.
PDF page 2. On this page, the participants can read a scientific text next to a poetic reflection on deforestation. Both texts aim to confront the participant with an opposite perspective on the same issue.
PDF page 2. Two quotes about love from Julio Cortazar are displayed on this page. Cortazar has a grounded way of writing about this subject, which gives a feeling of immediacy to the installation, once reflected upon them.
PDF page 1. The page contains an introduction and instructions, which are meant to reinforce the purpose of the installation, making sure that the participants make use of the tools offered to convey the experience.
PDF page 1. The page contains an introduction and instructions, which are meant to reinforce the purpose of the installation, making sure that the participants make use of the tools offered to convey the experience.
PDF page 2. On this page, the participants can read a scientific text next to a poetic interpretation of radio pulsars. Both texts aim to confront the participant with an opposite perspective on the same issue.
For this installation, I want to place ten JBL waterproof speakers floating in the shallow waters of Amagerstrand. To make them float, I will attach them to plastic bottles working as buoys. The ten speakers are going to be connected via Bluetooth to a mini computer (raspberry pi), which is going to be playing a live sonification created through the measurement of CO2 in the atmosphere.