Sonic Sensing

This durational participative experiment took place between 8th Feb - 22nd March 2017, as part of the Digital Maker Collective's 'Digital Making Art School' at Tate Exchange. Sonic Sensing was also presented at 'Re-Animating Materiality through Sound' curated by Sadhna Jain in the Project Space of Tate Exchange on 22nd March. This session focused on looking at 'creative combinations of sound, material, digital and the analogue'. Sadhna writes about Re-Animating Materiality through Sound: The interplay of materiality and sound offers an opportunity to re-think how the creation and meaning of sound can be produced and experienced – through space, bodies, material forms and technology. We invite visitors of all ages and levels of experience to this session to see and hear the techniques used by a group of artist and designers. There will also be an opportunity to try your hand at becoming a Foley artist under the guidance of Louise Brown, as well as enjoying an interactive experience of the Sound Arts from Nicola Rae. This panel session will enliven the topic of Re-animating Materiality Through Sound with a series of lightning talks, presentations, and table top demonstrations. After this session visitors are encouraged to visit all the other interactive events in the same space. Sonic Sensing experiments 8th February, 2017: During the first day of experiments, two stereo class D amplifiers were wired up to breadboards and attached to the surface speakers. Their sonic frequencies were tried out on different resonant objects including the floor, tables, chairs and windows, as well as connecting them to previously constructed, open source-coded Arduino oscilloscopes. 8th March, 2017: On the second day, the surface speakers were experimented with on the windows overlooking the Thames: the recessed window frames were found to be equally as resonant for sound as the windows. Participants activated the windows to become sonically interactive through placing surface speakers against them. A sonic environment of recordings of foghorns and bell buoys could be heard, as well as radio waves received from Outer Space and a dripping tap from APT studios' sink drain in Deptford. 22nd March, 2017: During the third day of experiments, surface speakers and contact microphones were placed on the windows as well as the window frames of Tate Exchange, which then connected to a laptop running a sound emission analyser that visualised the sound frequencies. Two contact microphones attached to the windows picked up the sonic vibrations of the surface speakers, which then activated sound visualisations that were projected onto architectural structures inside the building. This was project was discussed as part of 'Re-Animating Materiality through Sound' and participated with by visitors. Coincidentally Fujiko Nakaya's 'London Fog' gradually became visible through the windows during the afternoon, resonating with the sound of the fog horns, bell buoys and shocking news of the Westminster Bridge attack. About the Digital Maker Collective: The Digital Maker Collective are a group of artists, designers, staff and students from the University of the Arts London (UAL) who explore emerging digital technologies in arts, education, society and the creative industries. They are supported by Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Art (CCW), UAL. The Digital Maker Collective's 'Digital Making Art School' at Tate Exchange engaged over 2000 visitors during four days (8th Feb, 22nd Feb, 8th March, 22nd March 2017)