dB Magazine by Alexia Stam

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;When lighting strikes, count the seconds till the thunder is heard. Divide the number by 3 and you now know how many kilometres away it isâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; - Opa.

DECIBEL -masthead-

Written and Edited by Alexia Stam Logo Produced by Tatiany Stam Cover and Back Cover by _Blank Dedicated to Walter Giller Many Thanks to The Parents, Tatiany, Henri, Kerrie, Jacqueline, Jack, and above all: Rob

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without permission from the publishers. The views expressed in dB Magazine are those of the respective contributors and are not neccessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. The magazine welcomes ideas and new contributors but can assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. dB Magazine is printed in the UK and published 2 times a year.

ÂŠ 2012 dB Magazine

decibel 1. 2.

(dB)

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; noun a unit for comparing two currents, voltages, or power levels, equal to one tenth of a bel a similar unit for measuring the intensity of a sound. It is equal to ten times the logarithm to the base ten of the ratio of the intensity of the sound to be measured to the intensity of some reference sound, usually the lowest audible note of the same frequency. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition

STEPHEN MALINOWSKI - Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Art

21 37

Sciences

SYNESTHESIA - Seeing Sound

SILENCE - Unattainable Void

PLUNDERPHONICS - Sound Collages

ANDRE MICHELLE - Tone Matrix

KUMA (WAVE) - Editorial

PI SYMPHONY - The Sound of Constants

CYMATICS - Visual Sound

Explosion - Joschi Herczeg and Danielle Kaehr

_BLANK - Q&A

SAKURAKO SHIMIZU - Waveform Jewelry

MR.UNDERWOOD - Sonic Graffiti

ZIMOUN - 25 Woodworms, Wood, Microphone, Sound System, 2009

THE BFG - Roald Dahl 1984

SOUND SHOWERS - Anna Karin Ryander and Per-Olof Sandberg

GREY WORLD - Railings Project

FOAM - ‘Dry The River’ Installation

RENAUD HALLEE - Possible Metrics

EDITOR’S LETTER

Contents - PAGE -

107 110

Architecture

SOUND JARS

131

Technology

MOVIE - List

129

BOOK - Mark

127

BANG AND OLUFSEN - The Human Ear is the Final Judge

123

SPEAKERS - Of The Month

122

HEADPHONES - Of The Month

111

TURNTABLE - Of the Month

ACOUSTIC MIRRORS - Editorial

109

THE EYES OF THE SKIN - Juhani Pallasmaa

108

SONATA OF SLEEP - Sleep Labs of the Soviet Empire

MAYA TEMPLES - Acoustic Riddles

101

EPIDAURUS - Ancient Greek Acoustics

THE WHISPERING GALLERY - Grand Central Station

BERNHARD LEITNER - Soundcube

100 1 32 137

editor’s -letter-

The way that we listen has become more scattered and distracted. As a society, we have lost the ability to focus solely on any from of sound without simultaneously tackling other tasks. We need to revisit the time when one would fully concentrate on a song whilst listening to it, absorbing each note and following its rhythmic fluctuations. When it would come to playing records, the scratching noises were also embraced and loved, giving each melody a distinct character due to its imperfections. The entrancing element of noise sustains interest and by paying greater attention to it, one can discover that noise may be even more alluring than a musical symphony. Rain is perfect. The inconsistency of its droplets becomes an immaculate cacophony colliding with anything and everything that comes in its way. I find that rain can calm me during any moment, which has led to my infatuation with the website Rainymood, a virtual space where hours of rainfall play on loop, adding a zen quality to my surroundings. Despite its frequent occurrence, people fail to take notice of the complexities of rain, for when you really LISTEN to every sprinkle and every splatter, your mental state instantly shifts - for the better.

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An abundance of everyday noises go by unnoticed, but a generation of sound artists have brought the forgotten sounds back into the limelight. The playful Fluxus art movement of the 60s pushed the phenomenon of sound into a more formal realm, regarding it as a creative outlet and not solely a background drone. Due to sound art covering such a vast spectrum, it has often been dismissed with bewilderment, with its definition being placed somewhere between conceptual art and experimental music. Yet with the growth of new media art, and a plethora of eager artists finding new ways to express themselves, sound art has become a bubbling field of creativity. It is currently undergoing a renaissance with artists depicting ‘noise’ in a wide variety of ways, such as through film, imagery and even mathematics - gaining respect and appreciation along the way. dB Magazine devotes itself to this bond between art and sound. Our first issue introduces you to the field of sound art, through interviews, reviews and photographs, delving deep into this sweeping art genre. Places and people who embrace sonic qualities have been brought together, producing a sort of sonic map, pinpointing the musically vibrating sources from all over the world. By separating each issue into sections, such as Art, Technology and Sciences, you will embark on a journey, discovering many aspects of wave-forms, and developing an appreciation for sound. The addition of QR codes sporadically placed within this issue, allows you to easily track and hear any work of art referred to, or interview featured, thus making the experience of reading dB, both visual and aural. Ultimately sound IS everywhere and dB simply wants you to prick up your ears and bask in the glory of sonic experiences.

Alexia Stam Editor-in-Chief

www. rainymood.com

Opposite Image ‘Symphonie Ruhige: Diagonale’ by _Blank

Symphonie ruhige: Diagonale video by _Blank

“i don’t separate sound art from music. I am one person; my idea’s come from the same place.” - Alvin Lucier, Composer and Artist. -07-

Stephen Malinowski Image Courtesy of Tatiany Stam

-Bach: Toccata and fugue in d minor-

Although music is considered a universal language, reading it isn’t necessarily straightforward. People who may lack the ability to understand a conventional music score are able to decipher the structure of composition in Stephen Malinowski’s audifications. When watching one of his creations meander across the screen, one is conscious of the fact that everything that is audible is also being expressed visually, allowing one to understand the harmonic fusions and compositional elements, without needing to understand the Circle of Fifths. Through the development of The Music Animation Machine, Malinowski has given life to the static notes inked on paper, adding colourful movement to each instrument, voice and tonality. Every organ or tone is expressed as its own colour, whilst each note lights up at the exact moment that it sounds, producing a synesthetic journey of synchronization in a meandering graphic form. Each bar scrolls across the screen, with the pitch being identified by the on screen positioning and timing in relation to the melody. This extends the possibility of expressing music in visual form, without having to solely focus on the sounds. Listening and following Toccata And Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach becomes a harmonic game of Tetris, with each captivating note merging into the next, and the lit up pixel acting like a conductor in action. The vivid movements unravel the complex symphony, giving you the chance to learn the tone levels and predict the range at which the oncoming section will follow. Watching any of Malinowski’s visual symphonies awakens your inner music recognition - whilst feeling each note you encounter in harmony.

bach toccata and fugue in d-minor, stephen malinowski

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Created By Tatiany Stam

Renaud Hallee -possible metrics-

Images Courtesy of Renaud Hallee

s o

Screen Shots from ‘Sonar’

Although all of our senses are in constant use throughout each day, when two of them are working in tandem, you can’t help but become encapsulated for a few moments. French filmmaker Renaud Hallee at Possible Metrics, has produced a visual feast where you catch yourself falling into a trance of fascination. ‘Sonar’ is a short film where the sounds heard are digitally painted onto the screen in unison to each beat - developing a stimulating link between noise and imagery. Starting with small ripples representing the high pitched notes, Sonar soon explodes into a firework of stimulations where you don’t simply see and hear the explosions, but feel them within. “Sonar was produced in about 5 weeks on flash. It was a slow process of putting together everything I found inspiring in both film and music,” Hallee explains. “The budget was 2 cups of coffee per day.” The caffeine triggered an electronic rhapsody of alternate tones portrayed through colour, shape, and movement, becoming a type of digital pin ball with numbers timing each notes life span.

n a r During those four minutes, your mind builds a bridge between everything that is taking place and inputs them as a weave of perfection. Your attention is evenly split between both senses, not solely focusing on them individually, as everything that happens visually, wether concurrence of shapes or the crashing of spheres, casts an intonation. “Sound is as important as visuals in the context of my projects,” and with that in mind he sees himself as a filmmaker and a sound designer. How about a sound artist? “I think it’s up to people to decide if Im an artist.”

www. possiblemetrics.com

Sonar renaud hallee

FOAM

-DRY THE RIVER’ INSTALLATION-

Each poster took 20 hours to be hand-crafted by FOAM and were then scattered along brick walls, in galleries and even in the Rough Trade music shop in Shoreditch. Fans of Dry The River were informed of the locations in real time through continuous tweets, while pedestrians were intrigued by the interactive addition to the streets of London. The experimental project not only introduced the public to the whimsical folk music of Dry The River, but it also gave people a reason to stop in their tracks and listen through an old rusty tin can.

‘dry the river’ foam project Imagers Courtesy of FOAM

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The creative team at FOAM have found an innovative way to creatively market the release of Dry The River’s newest album Shallow Bed. Phil Clandillon and Steve Milbourne have successfully mastered the ultimate bait to attract the youth of East London, through 12 interactive posters that they nailed along the streets. “We decided to innovate around the poster as a form of listening post, allowing fans to hear the album in full for the first time,” shares the FOAM team, while presenting the dozen animal designs featured on the posters. The combination of string and nails formed bears, dears and other furry creatures - the band’s art direction taking up the posters’ full surface. Old fashioned metal can ‘telephones’ (similar to those we played with as children between rooms) hang off the end of the ‘stringart’, with each one playing a different song from the album. “Each tin can contained a hidden speaker wired through the string to an Arduino playing the music,” with passers-by having the ability to simply place the can to their ears in the middle of the street and enjoy a newly released track.

Dry The River posters in Shoreditch, East London

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Dry The River poster in Rough Trade Shop

Dry The River posters in production

A selection of the Dry The River posters

Grey World

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Image Courtesy of Grey World

-Railings Project-

The satisfaction we felt as children, running sticks along railings in the street, filling the air with an echoing clacking sound is indescribable. The simplicity of only needing a twig to keep ourselves entertained, sums up the beauty of our youth. Imagine how captivated we would have been, if the railings we scratched actually produced a piece of music, instead of the annoying ringing in reality? Grey World did just that. In 1996 they produced an urban installation named the ‘Railings Project’, and tuned a selection of ordinary street railings, which when grazed played The Girl from Ipanema. “Sound is a major way of alerting people to changes in their usual public locations,”they said, and as they never officially shared the locations of the tuned railings, people would roam Paris, umbrella in hand, trying to find the magical fences.

www.greyworld.org

Sound Showers Image Courtesy of Anna Karin Ryander

-Anna Karin Rynander & Per-Olof Sandberg-

Airports revolve around reducing the risk of chaos. Structurally, areas are separated and spread out in order to even out the mass of people who eagerly make their way to their ongoing flights. Although the spaces are produced in a way to allow minimal stress whilst reaching a final destination - you just can’t help but feel on edge. The Gardemoen Airport in Oslo, Norway, has found a way to serve the needs of the anxious travelers through the means of art. With just one step onto a circular shaped floor mark, all the bustle and tension felt within the walls of the airport float away. Introduced in 1998, eleven Sound Showers designed by Artist Anna Karin Rynander and Engineer Per-Olof Sandberg filled the main terminal and railway station, producing a ‘new kind of facility for visitors in a public space.’ Positive sounds such as sea waves, bird songs and whispered words emerge when one steps into the sphere. Due to the shape of the cleverly designed sound lens, the sound streams are solely audible to the user, becoming virtually subdued to the surrounding public. The showers become a type of sonic therapy which break up the continuous levels of everyday monotony. So even during times of peak movement, you will surely find someone taking the time to stop and listen to the unique noises showered onto them, and smile as their worries fade for that split moment.

www.ryander.com

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the bfg

-Roald Dahl, 1984-

Image Courtesy of Penguin

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Illustration by Quentin Blake From ‘The BFG’, Pengiun, 2007

BFG: These ears maybe is looking a bit propsposterous to you, but they is very extra-usual ears indeed. They is allowing me to hear absolutely every single twiddly little thing. Sophie:

You mean you can hear things I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hear?

BFG: You is deaf as a dumpling compared with me! I is hearing the footsteps of a lady bug as she goes walking across a leaf. Sophie: Honestly? What else can you hear? Adapted for the theatre from The BFG, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1982 (Puffin, 1984)

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zimoun

-25 woodworms, wood, microphone, sound system, 2009-

Image Courtesy of Zimoun

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The sound of 25 woodworms eating themselves through a piece of wood resonates within a closed room. The piece of work made by Swiss artist Zimoun, allows viewers to witness a normally invisible and silent activity of nature. By radically reducing any form of unneeded explanation, Zimounâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work of art is essentially self explanatory, expecting the viewers to depends on their aural senses. The art piece is comprised of woodworms, their wooden habitat and a powerful sound system, all presented in a minimal construction. The straight forward concept, simultaneously captivates you, through incorporating the essential ability to listen carefully and hear the - mostly inaudible - insect world in live action.

www.zimoun..ch

Mr. Underwood -sonic graffiti-

walls CAN

Images Courtesy of Mr.Underwood

2-osc Supersonic Noise Box

WHISPER.

Noise Box with headphone plug-in

On average a person takes 4000 steps a day, covering around 3.5km along the way. Within this time it’s inevitable for countless streets to be crossed, doors opened, unknown shoulders brushed, and buildings passed, with each aspect rarely given attention. It only takes a few moments of observation to unearth even the smallest of details lingering within a city. If you are to walk by the decaying walls of Birmingham, try to pay attention to what lays within the concrete facades, as there may be a headphone socket waiting to be plugged into. Release yourself from the monotony of your iPod, and plug into the sounds of the city. Scattered throughout Digbeth, Birmingham are multiple interactive sound pieces which give new life to derelict alley ways, whilst luring the public to examine the surfaces more closely. Appropriately named as ‘Sonic Graffiti’, these installations play an original ‘Crash EP’ of four compositions put together by artist Mr.Underwood, allowing you to literally ‘plug into the city.’ Eight Sonic Graffiti items were produced, after extensive soldering and crucial water-proofing, as unlike Underwood’s previous work - these had to last. “I started doing Sonic Graffiti pieces many years ago when I got into circuit bending,” from having always had a love for graffiti art, Underwood wanted to attempt to make a sonic equivalent. Initially he would leave random noise synths and circuit bent toys attached to posts and on the back of doors in public toilets. The underlying graffiti aesthetic was prominent in the fact that they were all transient in nature, lasting only until the battery emptied or the boxes stolen - in the same

way that graffiti always has a risk of being painted over. Yet with their short lasting life in mind, Underwood was merely amused by the thought that someone might come up and experience some exciting sounds in an unusual context. It wasn’t until VIVID and Capsule commissioned Underwood to produce the eight sonic pieces, that he realised his ‘throw away’ mentality had to change, and it was time for more interactive, engaging and durable works of art. A collaboration of idea’s with artist Nikki Pugh helped make the project a success. Pugh’s main area of enquiry ‘is centered around interactions between people and places,’ and she uses physical computing to set up frameworks for exploration. Their creative similarities built an essential bridge between the initial sonic graffiti idea, and the actual production of it, “the thing Nikki does well is add ideas that are grounded on some reasoning, dare I say some artistic justification, which is not something I’ve always exceled at where my sonic graffiti is concerned,” explains Underwood. Unfortunately Nikki Pugh secured an artist residency in New York when the project was due to be installed, prompting Underwood to work on their initial ideas solo. Subsequently new interfaces were developed, such as pieces that required a number of people to join hands to activate them, permitting the public to become part of the work in real time. “I came to the realization that I wanted something that leeches power, something that I can revisit, and can run alongside the more transient pieces, which I continue to plant around the place.” Each one had a distinctive approach in terms of the installation, what was required to make it function and how the sound was emitted.

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With joint commissioning from VIVID and Capsule, Underwood was now looking at four pieces featuring ‘music inspired by and based around field recordings made in Digbeth’, and four noise boxes that could be triggered by the participation of the public. The Crash EP, featured recordings taken close to the spots that the pieces were later embedded into, “the aim was that people would listen back to them in situ, with the chance sounds of that space forming part of the composition. A sort of recursive process piece.” The remaining pieces were more playable, two being Noise Box Synths, one synth that varied the note and crackle according to how many people joined hands to touch it, and one recorder that allowed people to play back a message from the previous visitor and then leave their own verbal response, building sonic connections between strangers. The sounds could be mainly heard through the built-in speakers, with one piece requiring headphones in order to inflate the effects of the noises presented.

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From a technical aspect, the pieces are made through a variety of means. The basis involves a lot of soldering but Underwood adds that “I see very little point in re-inventing technologies if they can be bought and repurposed for very little outlay,” hence his pieces that record and play back sound are based on very simple circuits for kids toys. However for the more complicated pieces (such as the Supersonic Noise Box - Dual Oscillator optical synthesizer embedded in a wall) he builds from scratch. As graffiti artists represent themselves through tags, Underwood’s sonic signature is in the form of the noise boxes he creates.

Underwood admits to having an unhealthy fascination with noise, “I consider myself hypersensitive to sound, often being distracted by a squeaky shoe or the sound of the ventilation system when I should be concentrating on something else.” Having been brought up surrounded by experimental music and playing instruments along the way, Underwood tapped into his electronic fascination when he went to study Interactive Multimedia Communication. “I have always made music but over the years this has developed to include acoustic, electronic and electro-mechanical instrument design” proving that he can’t help but attempt altering the uses of an object, while finding new ways of creating original sounds. “I consider myself a sound artist. These days I do very few pieces that are purely visual in nature.” Sound is a recurring and essential element in his work, and he extracts inspiration from the rumbling streets that others tend to ignore. Underwood is transfixed by how sound appears in our environment, and how with everything, there are boundaries surrounding what is acceptable in a certain setting and what is not. “When traveling on the tube in London, I am always amazed at how loud and abrasive the sound is. All the suits just standing there accept it, but if it were in a different context (a Merzbow gig for example) this would be deemed wholly unacceptable,” this is likely due to their scarce application of simple observation.

The eight noise boxes produced by Mr.Underwood

www.mrunderwood.co.uk

Various Noise Boxes and their locations

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sakurako shimizu

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Images Courtesy of Sakurako Shimizu

-WAVEFORM JEWELRy-

Church Bell - Cuff bracelet, Silver.

The juxtaposition of a simple shape with extensive detailing, present in a sound wave increases its captivating nature. Once distinguishing similarities and differences between wave forms, you can unravel the beauty within the moulds they take. Straying away from standard sound representations, Sakurako Shimizu transformed the monumental words of ‘I Do’ into wedding bands - making them a more personal form of eternal bond. With a background in design and art, Shimizu started her studies in Japan and then migrated to New York where she majored in metal works. Having always been interested in the conceptual approach towards jewelry - rather than focusing solely on the technical aspect, Shimizu combined her fascination of sound waves with her trade of jewelry making, “I saw the visual image of a sound waveform somewhere and though it was beautiful.” It wasn’t until

From Left: Yawn, Sneeze, Wow - Brooches

the summer of 2007 when the Dorsky Curational in Long Island City invited her to exhibit and she decided to push herself and combine both skill and imagination to produce her now signature style of the waveform series. The first stage of the project was finding a way to turn the concept into reality. Having traditionally made most of her creations by hand, she opted to take a step into laser-cut technology in order to have more precise detailing. By laser cutting the base material (metal sheets) she soon saw that there was a limitation for the thickness available to cut, along with a lower level of durability, hence leading her to 3D printing technology. Through making 3D models and casting them into metal, Shimizu has found a technical combination of using her hands along with digital assistance. The benefit of this process being that the range of design

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“customers have the unique opportunity to own a timeless representation of their partner’s voice”

options is endless, hence experimentation becomes much more viable. In addition since the shape is cast as a seamless ring instead of a fabricated one, it becomes more durable for everyday wear. The choice of sounds includes two key checklists, one being the selection of the noise itself and the other - more essential - is deciding if the waveform is visually interesting and beautiful in order to be converted into an object. “There must be a balance between the sound and the visual of the sound,” which results in a perfect fusion.

The waveform jewelry was exhibited adjacently to a DVD Player and monitor, in order for the audience to have the ability to visually connect the jewelry to the actual sound waves used. The collection ranges from silver cut church bell bracelets, giggle necklaces, yawn brooches, waveform rings, to her signature ‘I Do’ wedding bands available in silver,white/yellow/red gold and platinum. Customers also have the choice to request a certain sound, “people can send me recordings of any word/ phrase/message for me to transform into a piece of jewelry,” Shimizu explains. By getting into contact with the designer, you receive instructions on how to record your custom sound, leading to a unique item with a personal connection to you. “Many people send me different ways of saying ‘I Do’ for the wedding bands... Sometimes I don’t even know what is being said since the requests are sent from all over the world,” but the customers have the unique opportunity to own a timeless representation of their partner’s voice saying the powerful two words. Although Shimizu’s main inspiration derives from sound, she goes on to explain, “I am not a sound artist. I am simply interested in data visualizations, whether through the sound waveform pieces or my other jewellery which I make using computer programming codes such as -Jewellery-, -Necklace-, -Head- and -Earrings-.” Labeling aside, her pieces are true works of art and have surely taken the concept of simple wedding bands a step further. They also show that even when the sounds of nature or music are commonly seen as the most beautiful, in fact according to Shimizu “the human voice creates the most interesting waveforms rather than any given music piece or environmental sound.”

www.sakurakoshimizu.blogspot.com

-32‘I Do’ Wedding Band - 14K Gold

Installation view with DVD player and a monitor

_ Blank Q&A Artist _Blank discusses his original and captivating linear images, made purely from raw sound files.

Images Courtesy of _Blank

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This closet is made of Doors - Terre Thaemlitz

1) How and when did you start making your visual pieces and what inspired you to produce them? I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of a specific turning point or an initial inspiration because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always been surround by cinema. My father loves cinema, so I grew up watching movies of all kinds. When I was a kid, he had a super 8mm camera and a projector, and I had a toy projector that worked with real super 8mm film rolls. Some years later my parents gave us (my brother an me) a VHS camcorder and we started shooting short films. We edited the films with the camcorder and a standard VCR. Then I studied cinema direction and I shot some short films in 8mm and 16mm, mostly narrative films, but quite fragmented. Afterwards I became interested in experimental cinema, I took an animation course and I started making experimental videos with the VHS camcorders and the U-matic VCR of the school. That was in the middle of the nineties, when home computers started being able to edit video, so at that point I started using computers. It was a very natural progression.

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2) What connection do you see between visual and auditory forms? How have you found a way to link them? Visual and auditory forms are quite different. Sound is very physical, you can feel the sound waves, the vibration, through your body. Images can’t affect your body, visual art is much more representational and conceptual that music or sound art. Sound can be also representational or conceptual, of course, but it’s more emotional and overwhelming because it has physiological qualities.

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Anyway, light is a vibration, just like sound, so the relationship between image/colour and sound has always been present in art and in science. In my case, the main reason for searching for this connection is that I can’t live without music. When I was a kid, I loved classical musicals and music videos, I still love them, so for me, cinema/video has always been about it’s relationship with sound. There are hundreds of different ways of linking images with sound, but usually the link between both is quite arbitrary, just poetic, not a literal translation. I think that when we watch images synchronised with sound we identify ourselves with the image, we are the ones who are being pushed by the sound. Images are just a representation of the link between the sound and our body. Cinema/video is what I am, and music/sound, is what moves me.

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Urgent by Keiichiro Sibuya

3) Is there a selection process that takes place when you decide to transform a song into an image? There’s a selection process, but mostly an experimentation process. I don’t have preconceived ideas, I just try things, some of them work and some of them don’t. It’s a very random process, the selection is made afterwards, when the transformation is finished and I get to see if the result is interesting or not.

4) How do you make your artworks? How do you transfer the sound into an image? I use different techniques. Some pieces are generated in real time with vj softwares, like Modul8 or VDMX, in that case images react to certain parameters, like low tones or rhythm. Other videos are created, edited and synchronised frame by frame, by hand. Sometimes I generate the images using databending techniques, opening raw sound files in an image editor. Usually sound comes first, but sometimes I create the images/video and then I generate the sound from the video file or frame by frame from the images. There are audio softwares, like Audacity, that open any kind of file, but the result with video files is not very interesting because it generates a very monotonous and unpleasant noise.

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Ilpo by Vaisanen

Most of my videos are generative or made from still images, I hardly ever shot video. When I work frame by frame, usually I have a sound that I like and I shoot a lot of abstract photos or I distort frames from old movies that I found on archive.org or other web sources. I never use video filters, if I work with photos or frames I do all the work in Photoshop and then I just import all frames to Final Cut.

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A Moment of Silence by William Basinski

5) Which is your favorite song both musically and visually? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a favourite song. I prefer noise and minimal music, maybe because both are very physical. I like very abstract and immersive music: drones, minimal electronics and all kinds of stuff with very low sounds that vibrate through you body. Maybe visually is more interesting minimal that noise. In fact, sometimes noise is much better without any kind of image. I guess that if I had to choose a song I would say something by Alva Noto or Ryoji Ikeda, or maybe some Carl Michael von Hausswolff or the first track of Blackest ever Black by Haswell & Hecker, which in fact was generated from visual data.

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Au Claire De Lune (Earliest known recording of sound)

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Fur Elise by Johann Sebastian Bach

6) Where are you based, and what is your art background?

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I’m from Galicia, a region in the northwest of Spain, but I live in Barcelona since 1993. I’ve attended drawing classes, and art history classes at university, but my background is in cinema. I studied cinema direction, and then I did another three year course of animation, multimedia and video. I’m interested in a lot of different things and I’m always going to workshops and lectures on cinema, video, sound, art, literature... I even studied Japanese calligraphy for four years.

www.null66913.net

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White Noise

explosion

-Joschi Herczeg and Daniele Kaehr.-

Images Courtesy of Bafa Foto

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“The artistic duo Joschi Herczeg and Daniele Kaehr create light illusions using highly complex pyrotechnics. In their series Explosion, they built a custom-made detonator, which is connected to the cameras and synchronized to snap a photo at the very moment of the explosion. In this way, they were able to capture motion and time in a split second of an explosion. Their fascination lay in making order out of chaos and freezing an ephemeral creation; each image is like a chance sculpture – the artists themselves were uncertain of the shape, colour and size they would form. The explosions take place in a domestic setting to play upon feelings of anxiety and unrest.”

Artist Statement of Joschi Herczeg and Daniele Kaehr on Bafa Foto www.bafafoto.com

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Music, which should pulsate with life, needs new means of expression, and science alone can infuse it with youthful vigor.â&#x20AC;? -Edgard Varese, Composer. - 25

cymatics -Visual sound-

The ability to visualize sound and understand its complexities, has been uncovered within the scientific field of Cymatics.

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All Cymatic Imagery Courtesy of John Telfer

Image Courtesy of Cymascope

-54Ernst Chladni Cymascope Drawings from Entdeckung uber die Theorie des Klanges,’ 1787

Nature holds layers of hidden data, which once unraveled can help us understand its construction. “There seems to be this latent potential everywhere around us. Everything gives out some kind of data, whether its sound or smell or vibration.” Creative Technologist Evan Grant has been trying to find ways to harness and unveil the sheltered intelligence of Mother Earth, which has led him to the discovery of cymatics. Derived from the Greek word ‘kuma’ meaning ‘wave,’ Cymatics is the process of visualizing sound through the observation of resonance, typically in the surface of a plate, membrane or diaphragm. Through the emitted vibrations, the inorganic matter is excited and migrates towards the modal centres of the quivering plate - forming a myriad of symmetric patterns. The geometric markings produced are quite similar to the structure of snowflakes, full of intricate matrices. This discovery has opened a previously invisible realm, unveiling the visibility of sound and allowing us to gain a deeper understanding of the universe.

In 1787 musician and physicist Ernst Chladni laid the foundations for the study of sound, earning his name as ‘the father of acoustics’. With the assistance of a violin bow played perpendicularly across the edge of a flat plate covered in sand, Chladni observed that patterns appeared, depending on the edge of the plate that the bow was drawn. In his book ‘Entdeckung uber die Theorie des Klanges’ (Discoveries in the Theory of Sound) he elaborated on the fact that the sound fed into the plates caused certain areas to vibrate and others to remain still, producing unusual shapes that varied greatly from each other - these patterns now go by the term Chladni figures. Although Chladni was the first to name visualized sound, the provenance of Cymatics can be traced back centuries, with even Leonardo Da Vinci having once written “when a table is struck in different places the dust that is upon it is reduced to various shapes of mounds and tiny hillocks. The dust descends from the hypotenuse of these hilllocks, enters beneath

their base and raises itself again around the axis of the point of the hillock.” Galileo Galilei also found “a long row of fine streaks, parallel and equidistant from one another” when scraping a brass plate with a chisel. However it was in 1967 when Swiss scientist Hans Jenny published his first volume ‘Kymatic’ on the study of visible vibrations that he coined the term Cymatics and demonstrated that sound actually does affect physical matter, producing natural geometric patterns as a result. When sand is placed on a surface, the vibrations leaked are centered at different points. The boundaries between the vibrating parts are called node lines and do not produce movement, while the other parts are oscillating constantly, creating patterns from sand piles. The displacement of matter alters according to pitch, with higher frequency noises assembling more complex manifests of shapes. The introduction of the Cymascope allowed the movements of sounds to become visible in higher definition, and greater detail. The Cymascope instrument uses the science of cymatics by imprinting sounds’ invisible vibrations onto a surface of water, using its surface tension as a super-sensitive membrane revealing its geometric structures. The acoustic energy is then revealed, and captured through high definition photography within its phases of change.

The motion patterns can vary from stationary ordered structures, to those that go into a seemingly chaotic three dimensional event which constantly pulsate. As the shapes evolve in tandem to frequency, a vibrational imprint can define the visual structure of a certain sound, or even letter. Each letter will emit its own shape, and Jenny discovered in his research that when the vowels of the ancient languages of Hebrew and Sanskrit were exposed, the sand molded into the shape of the actual written symbols for those letters. This goes to show the magic within this form of science, “Cymatics is like a looking glass, into a hidden world. We can start to unveil the substance of things not seen,” Evan Grant had said during a TED Talk in London. Not only do the kaleidoscope patterns contribute to the world of art, but their scientific applications are growing continuously. For example in Oceanography, they have developed a lexicon of dolphin language which is being created visually through the sonar beams that the dolphins emit. English acoustics engineer and cymatics researcher John Stuart Reid, and Florida based dolphin research Jack Kassewitz have discovered that every pattern represented as a word in the dolphin language is very similar to the concept of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. There is strong evidence that

Cymascope in action

dolphins are able to ‘see’ with sound very similar to how ultra sounds are used during pregnancies. Dolphin consultant Dr. Horace Dobbs elaborated that “There is growing evidence that dolphins can take a sonic ‘snap shot’ of an object and send it to other dolphins, using sound as the transmission medium. We can therefore hypothesize that the dolphin’s primary method of communication is picture based.” The Cymascope has the ability to visualize dimensional structure within sound, as it captures the sound vibrations imprinted in the dolphins’ environment - water, which then produces the intricate details. This allows us to be able to gain a deeper understanding on how they communicate, and could eventually lead to a full recognition of what they are expressing. Yet there is still a lot to explore within cymatics, and a limited amount are working in this field, however the beauty of it is constantly escalating. “Consider for a minute that sound does have form and we have seen that it can affect matter, and cause form within matter, then sort of take a leap and think about the universe. Perhaps cymatics has had an influence on it all?” questioned Grant, expanding on the fact that sound lies at the heart of every aspect of nature.

“Vibrations underpin all matter - nothing would exist without sound and vibration.”

The resemblance between the patterns generated in Hans Jenny’s investigations and the physical shapes in nature led him to strongly believe that biological evolution was a result of infinite vibrations. He hypothesized that every cell holds its own frequency and that a number of similar cells sharing the same frequency would create a new frequency and so forth. He suggested that the key to healing our bodies was through the help of tones which could influence genes, cells and the structures within the body. The relation between sound and body has developed into Cymatic Therapy, a non invasive healing which helps to restore the body through providing precise combinations of frequencies that are associated with healthy organ systems. Cymatic Therapy was first applied in 1960 by Sir Peter Guy Manners, and is still used to this day to treat a range of disorders such as arthritis, M.S, chronic pain and many others. Manner’s stated that the therapy is “not applied through auditory channels, but directly through the skin” with the use of The Cymatics Therapy Instruments. Even though it’s a scientifically unsupported alternative technique, a huge range of patients have used this as an alternate non invasive form of healing.

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The art of visualizing sound helps us see what sound actually looks like. Although sound’s movement is referred to as a ‘wave’, this is merely a mathematical concept, as sound moves in a circular/spherical motion, similar to the shape of a bubble. The periodic movements of the air molecules colliding become a bubble like structure, resonating in different directions. Sound is a great mystery as there is no solidity to it, however it can produce a solid shape with its underlying vibrations. According to music therapist John Beaulieu who works on BioSonic Repatterning, “there is a similarity between cymatic pictures and quantum particles. In both cases that which appears to be a solid form is also a wave. They are both created and simultaneously organized by the principle of pulse.” Vibrations underpin all matter - nothing would exist without it. With sound being the prime universal force in the creation of matter, more and more phenomena are developing associations with Hans Jenny’s cymatic work. Jenny’s extensive research provided physical connotations to the creation of crop circles, leading to another viable explanation for the unknown additions to fields. Researchers have shown that crop circles are primarily based on the dimensions of the Golden Mean and fractal geometry, with many of Jenny’s vibrational patterns mimicking the structures developed within the crops. The inspected floors of the structures, featured bent plants - with the flower heads intact - swirled in mathematical proportions, all in unison with the Golden Ratio, the vortex used by nature to create organisms, such as shells, flowers and even the orbit system.

Some crops have had simple circular designs with concentric rings, whilst others have more complex geometric matrices, all present in Ernst Chladni’s old drawings. The connection between cymatics and crop circles is visually undeniable, but a physical analogy has to be present too. Although hoaxers have come forward claiming they produced the crop circles with wooden planks and mathematical calculations, avid researchers insist that some of these cymatic forms are quite impossible to be produced by humans. In 1991 Douglas Bower and David Chorley revealed themselves to the media, stating that they had been producing the geometric structures all along ‘for fun’. However researchers such as David Cayton and Robert Hulse who have been tracing and analysing crop circles for decades, insisted that some of the circles were so advanced, that no hoaxer would be able to produce them. “The genuine crop circle is almost perfect, the lay flows like water,” they explained during the documentary Crop Circles: The Hidden Truth. They could identify the man made circles from the genuine ones, claiming that the mechanically produced works held multiple errors, due to messy stomping, and the crushing of the plants’ structures. “The genuine ones have no mistakes. There are no acute changes in direction.” Up to now around 10,000 crop circles have been reported across 29 countries dating as far back as 1890, and all featuring circular geometric detailing. The so called ‘genuine’ ones, which don’t have traces of human inaccuracies, all share the same features: bent plants (not snapped), altered cellular structures, slightly burnt stems, long lasting energy patterns, and alterations in the local electromagnetic fields - affecting the proper function of cameras, mobile phones and compasses. In addition there are hundreds of measured effects on the human biological field, linking directly with Cymatic Therapy. Yet are those anomalous features enough to scientifically prove the ‘unknown force’ behind the manifestation of the famous crop circles? Witnesses of crop circles forming, have all stated that a static trilling sound occurred during the development of the creations. The powerful sound was recorded on magnetic tape in 1989, and was measured to have contained a frequency of 5.0 KHz. This high intensity was once exposed to corn plants within a lab, and produced a high heat content within the soil, burning the stem of the plants, whilst also altering the patterns in their crystalline structures. The crop circles occur due to ultrasound waves, which cause some molecules to oscillate, and others to remain still - just like the Chladni plates featuring sand. Researcher Paul Vigay measured the frequencies within numerous crop circles and saw that the simpler designs had lower energy patterns at 260-329 MHz, while the more

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It has been established that the genuine crop circles all lie along a crossroad of electromagnetic pathways, covering the globe, and the energy emitted can be sensed up to a year after the geometric creation - even once the crops have grown back into their original state. All the evidence supporting this theory is relatively scattered, but hundreds of reports have all shared the same features, with everyone emphasising on the positive energy present at the locations, together with its successful healing qualities. Wether its valid or not, one can’t help but see a distinct connection between cymatic forms and the crop circles, having become yet another feature of the universe interlinked with sound vibrations.

Image Courtesy of Synaptic Stimuli

intricate spirals which featured shapes such as a tetrahedrons, were from 640 MHz to as great as 1.2 GHz. Hence the higher the frequencies emitted, the more detailed and complex the manifestations became, synonymous with Jenny’s discoveries.

Crop Circle Design

The beauty of the cymatic forms are camouflaged within nature, with each structure you find having a natural counter part. Welsh Inventor Margaret Watts-Hughes experimented with a wooden resonating chamber, which by singing into the tube would produce ‘voice figures’ of sand. In an article from 1891, she shared “I have gone on singing into shape these peculiar forms, and stepping out of doors, have seen their parallels in the flowers, ferns and trees around me, as I have watched the little heaps in the formation of the floral figures gather themselves up and then shoot out their petals, just as a flower springs from the swollen bud.” The vibrations of every sound produce a visual imprint which unveil the mysteries that lie within the hidden aspects of the universe. With a few grains of resonated sand, a physical form of synesthesia has been born, giving depth into the understanding of matter and assisting us to decipher the ways of our world.

crop circles: the hidden truth

Long Exposure Cymatics

Image Courtesy of Screenok

pi symphony -the sound of constants-

π 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923 07816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609 55058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493 03819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669 23460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881 52092096282925409171536436789259036001133053054882046652138414695 1941511609...

The most universally recognised letter in the Greek alphabet would be π - even though it’s not written in Roman numerals. The mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, is commonly rounded up to 3.14 0 due to it’s infinite digits. The international day of celebration for the irrational number takes place annually on the 14th of March (3/14 in American) coincidentally Albert Einstein’s birthday. Composer Lars Erickson was the first to give new life to the famous digit which, was solely perceived as an endless string of alternate numbers, transforming it into a musical composition appropriately named the ‘Pi Symphony’. Having studied calculus and physics in the nineties whilst having a continuous passion for music, Erickson was fascinated by the close relationship between maths and music explaining that “they are related on so many levels. From sound waves, the frequencies of octaves (doubling of frequencies) to the actual structure of the notes, measures and form (which more relate to the geometric sequence: 1,2,4,8,16, etc.)”

Erickson’s musical encounter with π first occurred when he played the digits of the constant on his mobile phone. He was astonished to find the musicality of π to 32 digits, and went on to map the numbers to notes. The last digit to his cutdown version of pi was ‘0’, so he then assigned the ‘9’ to a step above the octave (as there are only 8 notes in any given scale) and the ‘0’ corresponded to two steps above the octave. “With this realisation, I decided I wanted to write a lasting piece of music to celebrate this melody and the relationship between both math and music,” and with that he began writing ‘Pi Symphony’ in March of 1990. Although the composition’s back bone comprised of π mainly, Erickson explained that once he became more intimately familiar with higher math he realised that ‘e’ (the base of the natural logarithms, 2.7182818284590...) “was every bit as important as Pi to math.” Through the insertion of the ‘e’, a type of harmony emerged, making the acoustic arithmetics mesh together beautifully. “E’s notes/digits seemed to lend themselves to a strident horn melody, and by

playing the first 10 digits and then repeating them in harmony, it made a kind of ‘logarithmic’ fanfare of sorts.” Staying true to the constants, even the rhythm of the song is a representation of the digits of π ( xxx.x xxx x xxxxxx) both rounded off to 3.1416. With the notes weaving into each other through a plethora of instruments; a pleasing yet strange rendition of the π constant emerges, giving off a slightly haunting response. The ‘Pi Symphony’ is “a kind of literal expression of Pi” showing it in a new light, and gaining a new crowd of appreciators. Staying true to his mathematical roots, Erickson passionately states “I feel that often titles and inspirations for musical pieces are anything but rational” and this mellifluous symphony speaks the truth as it is literally, comprised of π.

www.pisymphony.com

explanation of the pi symphony

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κύμα

(wave).

Transverse Wave

Two Point Sources Interference

Point Source, Inverse Square Law

Longitudinal wave

photography: Alexia Stam leotards: American Apparel model: Jacqueline Meli camera: Canon DSLR 1000D

andre michelle

Images Courtesy of Andre Michelle

-tone matrix-

-82Andre Michelle’s ‘Tone Matrix’ in Action

Make mellifluous music in a dotted acoustic grid, with Andre Michelle’s `Tone Matrix’ program. Each square (when clicked) ignites a musical note, and multiple selections trigger tones that bounce off each other acoustically - becoming a pulsating self-made symphony, that you can obsess over for hours on end. Essentially it is a “simple sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16 step sequencer” according to Michelle, in any case it keeps you captivated and manically clicking.

www.andre-michelle.com

Tone Matrix Andre michelle

plunderphonics -sound collages-

-219, 1989 plunderphonics noun in music, a style of sampling that alters the original, usually without seeking permission from the copyright holder CANADA, 7985 A compound of ‘plunder’ (to rob) and ‘phonic’ (of sound). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z

Images Courtesy of Plunderphonics.

Transitive Axis - ‘Grayfolded’ by John Oswald, 1995

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Musical instruments produce sounds. Composers produce music. Musical instruments reproduce music. Tape recorders, radios, disc players, etc., reproduce sound. A device such as a wind-up music box produces sound and reproduces music. A phonograph in the hands of a hip hop/scratch artist who plays a record like an electronic washboard with a phonographic needle as a plectrum, produces sounds which are unique and not reproduced - the record player becomes a musical instrument. A sampler, in essence a recording, transforming instrument, is simultaneously a documenting device and a creative device, in effect reducing a distinction manifested by copyright.â&#x20AC;? - John Oswald, 1985.

The distinction between reproducing and stealing is quite grey in the realms of the copyright law. This legal concept gives the creator of any original work all exclusive rights, defending their work from potential thieves. In many cases it is simple to distinguish what belongs to whom, but when dealing with music it becomes more complex to trace plagiarism through a series of notes and lyrics. In addition, the immense access the public has to music through the internet, has made it harder to administer what is being downloaded and edited on their own computers. The development of software with which avid musicians and samplerists can assemble their own musical compositions from the comfort of their own homes, has made the control over what original content is being reassembled, near impossible. By compiling snippets of music through a few small edits, a new and original melody is born - sonically different from its raw form. However this type of sound collaging which was coined as ‘Plunderphonics’ by John Oswald, isn’t making the record labels who hold the rights to the original content very happy.

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In 1985, composer John Oswald created the term Plunderphonics in his essay Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative, referring to music comprised of one or more recordings which when altered produced a new oeuvre. Oswald had presented this paper at the Wired Society of Electro-Acoustic Conference in Toronto, with the intention of distinguishing a difference between his sonic collages and plagiarism. With his own musical compilations having a range of original songs folded

into them, the constant legal battle prevented him from actually having the authorization to release his tracks. Oswald, as with other plunderphonic composers, sample music which is mostly uncleared and hence legal action is taken against them due to infringement. However not all songs’ derivatives are blatantly obvious, many forms of plundering are so excessive that the original tune is camouflaged, hence with minimal resemblance the musicians can still achieve a mash-up creation without dealing with the consequences. Some may choose to speed up the music to inject more life into it, whilst others may slow it down, emphasizing the structure of each combination of notes more precisely - ultimately always ending with a refreshing result. The song’s DNA may be retained, but the overall appearance and outcome produces a completely new field of music. ‘Plunderphonics EP’ was Oswald’s first compilation distributed in 1989. It featured 25 tracks of folded songs, with each piece being faithful to one musicians work. Whether that was Dolly Parton singing a masculine, slowed down rendition of ‘The Great Pretender’, Michael Jackson chanting Dab (instead of Bad) or a jumbled up version of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No.7. In all cases the raw material was evident, and even referenced on the packaging, but money for the rights was never handed over. If Oswald would have constructed these musical appropriations before 1976, then they would have been easily released and enjoyed without illegal associations, as sampling music was still allowed. When tapes were still in use, and the cutting up

Mirror Ashes - ‘Grayfolded’ by John Oswald, 1995

of each song was done manually, lawyers ignored borrowed musical compositions, only claiming legal action when lyrics were reused. It wasn’t until the digitization of sound occurred, when the U.S Copyright Act was altered to include the protection of any type of recording - meaning all samplerists had to pay up for the raw content they desired. Oswald became a key criminal in the eyes of the law, and his battle with plagiarism was on, “If creativity is a field, copyright is the fence,” he famously stated. Although most of Oswald’s work was never granted authorization, his sonic pastiche Grayfolded created in 1995 was free of illegal activity. Phil Lesh, founding member of 90s rock band The Grateful Dead, asked Oswald to plunderphonicize their music, giving Oswald the chance to comb through all over their recordings and access the ‘Grateful Dead Vault.’ After extensive research, he decided to focus on their legendary Dark Star track, reviewing over 20 years of live performance tapes. Layer upon layer was built and folded, starting with versions from 1968 - with the loss and addition of several band mates - and ending with their final performance in 1993 in Oakland, California. Grayfolded - being a phonetic word play of the band’s name - became a sublime album of all the moments, places and stages the music group experienced, all fused together into a double CD. Over 100 performances were cut up and pasted at different parts of the extended song, producing a non chronological juxtaposition of gigs, where the time of recording shifted back and forth manically. Rolling Stone rated the

track as “literally a hundred or so great heights rolled into one extraordinary, extended high... two CDs worth of gorgeous sonic origami,” whilst The New York Times included it as one of the Top 10 tracks of that year, calling it “an extended time-warped psychedelic jam that is meticulously hallucinatory.” The Grayfolded package holds 2 CDs, the first named Transistive Axis, and the second Mirror Ashes, along with a fold out chronology of the songs content through a time map indicating the dates and locations of every snippet of Dark Stars used. The timeline visually explains the journeys the band took, whilst simultaneously tracking the duration of the 2 hour long song. Composer Igor Stravinsky (whom Oswald also sourced as raw material) once said that “Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal,” which appropriately outlines the plunderphonic music movement. Just as DJs work with original songs, and add beats and effects to the recipe with their turntables, Oswald and other samplerists simply use great songs to make great compilations, often bringing them back into the limelight. Ultimately everything has been done before, making it ubiquitous to develop something utterly new. Every basic artist builds on a concept by a predecessor, whether through direct imitation or basic inspiration. The great artists are the ones who succeed in bringing their results to a new extraordinary level.

www.plunderphonics.com

grayfolded, john oswald

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PURE

Image Courtesy of Tatiany Stam

silence

-UNATTAINABLE VOID-

“absolute silence is unattainable.”

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Silence is perceived by many as a ‘lack’, a void. But once you abide to it, embracing it’s tranquility, you’ll realise that a lack of sound is just as, or even more rewarding than a state of noise. People seem to have become distracted by silence, choosing music and chaos over a moment of serenity. Yet if you succeed in capturing the apparent void of real silence, the type that makes your ears ring, your heart beat more powerfully, freezing your surroundings - you’ll come to realise that absolute silence is unattainable. “The sound experience which I prefer to all others is the experience of silence. And there is silence almost everywhere in the world now,” influential composer John Cage once stated. Having been a key player in the Fluxus art movement of the early 60s, Cage experimented with unconventional executions of music composition such as aleatoric music (Latin word alea meaning dice) where elements of the music were left to chance. He claimed that silence was just as important as sound within the realms of composing. This sent him on a quest to experience pure silence, which is only physically possible within an anechoic chamber. These shielded rooms are made up of walls covered in resistive sheets that absorb the incident energy, simulating

free space, hence assimilating sounds rather than reflecting them as echoes. Cage’s experience in the controlled environment - where silence was promised - fell flat as his heart beat and nervous system persistently filled his ears with noise. The realisation of the impossibility of absolute silence led to the composition of his most influential composition 4’33’‘conceived in 1947. The piece of ‘music’ featured 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence - from the orchestra’s perspective - focusing and embracing the sounds produced by the audience in attendance. “Everything we do is music,” he had explained, moulding the concept of silence with aleatoric composition, revealing a different symphony at every performance, whether it was excessive coughing emerging from the venue, or the echoing of the audience shuffling in their seats. 4’33’’ was first performed in August of 1952, by pianist David Tudor in Woodstock, New York. Brandon Labelle elaborated on Cage’s creation in Acoustic Territories/ Sound Culture and Everyday Life, saying how Cage “brought forward silence within his musical philosophy, figuring it as a vital space for expanded listening. Silence appeared as a generative matrix for exposing the abundant materiality of sound.”

Contemporary artist Jonty Semper also tinkered with the lack of noise, releasing a 2 part CD named Kenotaphion in 2001, comprised of 70 years of silences. Semper collected every surviving recording of the 2 minute silences at Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday ceremonies at the Cenotaph in London, dating back to 1929, quilting them all together. He told The Guardian at the time, “I really don’t think people will find it boring. All silences are quite distinctive,” referring to the coughing, crying babies, singing birds and even the Big Ben ringing in the background of each 2 minute snippet. Each part was manually fragmented in collusion, covering decades upon decades of respectful moments. Kenotaphion brought the surrounding ambient sounds to surface, and became an aural form of raw history. Just as silence can represent peace, it can also cause insanity. In 1821, the Auburn Prison in New York established a ‘silent system’ whereby silence was statutory, allowing absolutely no talking among the criminals as a form of control. Brandon Labelle featured the board of inspectors’ statement

at the time of “Let them walk their gloomy abodes, and commence with their corrupt hearts and guilty consciences in silence.” Through surveillance and isolation, silence became a function of complete control, depriving the prisoners of any type of interaction. The application of the ‘silent system’ often lead the prisoners to insanity, provoking extreme psychological distress due to the seclusion and quiet state in which they were confined. The nothingness of silence became a deafening reality, and soon the system of absolute solitude was diminished. To obtain pure silence is evidently impossible. Aldous Huxley once said “After silence that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music,” and rightfully so. In most cases we aren’t even searching for that aural emptiness, but just a second of tranquility, where your mind can momentarily switch off. Music has the ability to offer us that state of relaxation. Then again if you haven’t experienced a close to silent instant, I recommend finding it as it encourages you to pay more attention to how you listen.

Kenotaphion, released by Locus+

Interview with John Cage,1991

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SYNESTHESIA

-seeing sound-

Synesthesia is a perceptual condition of mixed sensations, allowing people to experience visual explosions of sound, tactile feelings towards shapes, and even gustatory responses to smells. With a union of the senses, two or more sensations become involuntarily combined, triggering disparate sensory activities. With hundreds of alternate versions, synesthetes rarely share identical responses, with some instances being more powerful than others. The most common form of intermingling senses is Grapheme, when letters and numbers are perceived in specific colours - with a 1/23 chance of prevalence. However due to most synesthetes not realising that this ‘gift’ isn’t experienced by everyone they consider their outlook normal, making the exact quantity unknown. People who have the ability to experience life with more dimensions, often feel misunderstood and secluded as it is near impossible to explain what they witness, making it a fairly hidden condition. Although seeing sounds is less common than Grapheme, Hearing-motion synesthetes have all expressed how fireworks of colour bombs erupt before their eyes when a musical stimulus is introduced.

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“synesthetes have all expressed how fireworks of colour bombs erupt before their eyes when a musical stimulus is introduced. “

The exact neurological alteration within synesthetes brains has still not been fully identified, with each case differing slightly from one another. Neuroscientists V.S. Ramachandran and E.M. Hubbard proposed in a psychophysical investigation in 2001, that synesthesia arises from the ‘cross-wiring’ between different parts of the brain, outlining that “the higher incidences of synesthesia is among artists and poets” - probably due to the extensive range of overall perception. With each part of the brain having a dedicated area for specific functions, a cross-activation between regions can account for the development of a relationship between senses. Studies showed that in synesthetes, dual sections of the brain are activated simultaneously, releasing the hidden sense. Although synesthesia is commonly seen as a neurological condition, it is not categorized within the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), making it a grey area within the psychological field. However it has been proven that the phenomenon is genetic and Ramachandran proposed that “it is tempting to speculate that a mutation causes excessive proliferation of neural connection between adjacent brain maps.” Interest within this field of neurology is constantly increasing, due to the rising number of ‘patients’ coming forward and sharing their own stories of augmented perception.

“

“I believe that my synesthesia is directly related to my strong memory. It just seems to me that every time my brain needs to recall something, my mixed up senses make it that much easier to make connections because everything has at least a couple senses attached to it. It’s like my brain works as one big unit instead of hundreds of little tiny departments competing for attention. But on the other hand, I often wonder what is the point of synesthesia...it’s so lonely to experience all this beauty and have no one to understand or share it with. Is it better if I try not to be conscious of it on the assumption that it is always working anyway? Sometimes I think being aware of it is just like masturbating: pleasurable but ultimately pointless and solitary. I like to think of it as always working for me no matter what, as it is just the natural state of my being and ultimately what keeps my brain and memory sharp and curious.

-Alan,27

”

-Macy, 14“

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“If I didn’t see my colours, black print would just be black print. Plain old boring black, not the rainbow of colours that I see. If I didn’t see my colours, math would be even more boring. If i didn’t see my colours, music would have no swirling blobs of colour when I hear it. If i didn’t see my colours, my dog’s bark would just be noise and have no cherry red explosions when she barked. If I didn’t have my colours, maybe my life would be easier. Maybe I wouldn’t be failing math. Maybe I wouldn’t get that insane look when I tell someone that I see colours. Maybe people wouldn’t think I am crazy. Maybe people wouldn’t judge me before I can tell them I am not crazy. Maybe my parents wouldn’t have to worry about me failing math. Maybe I would have more friends not a cheap little phony creep or a jerk trying to make a deal. Maybe I wouldn’t paint, or sing or love music. Maybe life would be all black and white and no color. If I didn’t have my colours, no more colourful names, no more insane looks, no more getting overwhelmed when you see different coloured letters that aren’t right in your mind. But then again I love my colours and that’s as simple as black and white. Sure, no colours would be fine and I wouldn’t have to see people looking at me like I am crazy, but without them my life isn’t complete. Everyone needs colour in their life. I don’t want to just see black and white, and I would miss the explosion of cherry red when my small golden retriever barks.

”

“

I started painting when I was in 4th grade. Naturally I had to listen to music while I painted. Sometimes I would hear a song and see a painting, then I would paint it. Or I would be painting and the way some colours would blend, words of songs would just flow from my fingers. I had to start keeping a notebook next to the canvas, sometimes I didn’t know if I was painting a picture or writing a song. As a result every picture I paint has the name of the music I was listening to, or wrote, as I painted, on the back of the canvas. I’ve always described myself as someone who has senses ‘closer to the surface’ than other people might and it’s been so fulfilling to read that it’s a lucky free pass I have, to the spaces between

”

-Suzanne, 59

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“

I see things so vividly, sometimes it’s hard to do anything else when I listen to music. It’s so powerful, the colours and the shapes and the feelings make me wish desperately I could lend someone else my eyes for sound for just a moment. I wonder if anyone has ever listened to Boston’s “More than a feeling” and seen the amazing blues and oranges I do, or Massive Attack’s “Sly” and seen the brooding scarlet, or the Chemical Brother’s “Salmon Dance” and seen the amazing shapes of the bass notes. The Moldy Peaches songs from Juno that made me throw up for a day, because hearing that was like staring at a septic tank swirl and fester for an hour. It’s actually a lot more emotional to talk about it than i thought it would be, but there’s a first time for everything, right?

-Jacques, 21 -95-

”

-June, 46 “

The most colours I experienced was for the song ‘We have a map of a piano’ by MuM. I would constantly play it. But from one day to the next, my gift was gone. I’ve been researching, and I cant find out why it’s gone. It just suddenly popped and left. I don’t see ANY colour now, it’s like losing a part of me and I feel so empty. I Cried my eyes out that night and music has never been the same

”

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Some things I see are my favourite, such as a bass drum or a kick drum will always be a black circle but the way it is processed is very interesting. Add distortion to the kick drum and the outline becomes jagged and depending on the quantityÂ of distortion it goes fuzzy or produces a sharp jagged outline. The more the distortion, the more the circle distorts as a vision. Some circles I see start to go more into a square which is interesting as the wave form becomes a square wave, as the distortion gives it an almost melodic tone. If the music is quiet on laptop speakers I see it small in my line of vision .But going out to gigs is amazing because it is so loud it fills the whole of my vision, becoming a magnified explosion of rainbows.

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- Kayne, 18

â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

I also see some music as having a certain colour. The sound of the clarinet is purple, the upper strings of the violin silver. And certain pieces of music have colours that I visualise as either ribbon-like strands or stained glass window type compositions. One of the stained glass window pieces is an Organ toccata by Charles-Marie Widor based on the Chimes of Westminster. When I hear it, it starts out in obscure non-colours, then rises from deep, jewel-like blues and purples up through verdant and yellow-greens, finally up to a burst of citrus-y yellows, oranges, and pinks. The first time I heard the piece it was so intense I actually saw the colors in front of my eyes, not only in my mind.

â&#x20AC;?

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-Isis, 34

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“Architecture is “frozen music” Really there is something in this; the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Architect.

bernhard leitner

-soundcube1969-

rentieL drahnreB fo ysetruoC segamI

In precise sketches, architect and pioneer of the art form of ‘Sound Installations’, Bernhard Leitner, approached the architectural and sculptural qualities of sound. Having analysed sound spaces, through the study of frequencies, volumes and impacts sounds have on the human body, Leitner developed his sound space objects. These installations made of 6 x -10064 loudspeakers, were designed to make sound travel sporadically, from one side to another, spiraling, redirecting and changing in pitch along its path, continuously altering when coming into contact with human bodies. www.bernhardleiTner.at

Sketches of Bernard Leitner’s ‘Soundcube 1969’

The whispering gallery

-grand central station-

Hidden within the bustling walls of New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Grand Central Station, lays a spot where everything slows down. Business men run to catch their trains and tourists snap away at the constellations above them. Then there are some - only a handful - who take a moment to whisper into the surrounding walls.

The Whispering Gallery in Grand Central Station. New York City, US

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Located near the famous Oyster bar and restaurant stands The Whispering Gallery, an acoustically vibrant dome finished in herringbone terra cotta tiles, standing high on four diagonal corners.

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One may witness a couple standing at opposite ends of the large arched entryway - faces hidden - as they mumble secrets into the bricks. With rush hour unleashing a gush of noise and chaos, the two individuals will break into laughter or astonishment, as they realise that only they can hear each other across the sea of occupied people.

Built in 1913 for the grand opening of the station, Rafael Gustavino and Son. made use of sound vibrations, through the construction of a domed ceiling, where the voices latch on to the curvature of the structure, making them sound like they are right by your side. With even the quietest of whispers, one can participate in a protected conversation, and elicit its magic as the world goes rushing by.

photography: Alexia Stam camera: Canon DSLR 1000D location: New York City, US

Epidaurus

Image Courtesy of Brad Templeton

-ancient greek acoustics-

Epidaurus - Peloponnese, Greece

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At the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece, stands the ancient amphitheater Epidaurus, dating back to the 4th century B.C. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grand size once held an audience of 14,000 who would have travelled from all around the country to enjoy captivating comedies and tragedies performed on itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stage - and it continues to attract an audience today. The theatre is arranged into 55 semi-circular rows of limestone seats and even at the farthest spot from the stage, one can still hear any spoken word, naturally amplified. The sonic quality reaches up to 70 metres, and clearly echoes throughout the theatre. Although many suspected the augmentation to have been assisted by the wind, it was recently discovered that the arrangement of the seats produced the natural speakers. The consistent layout and limestone material act as an acoustic filter, retaining any frequencies lower than 500 HZ, such as treeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rustling and people talking, hence minimising any unwanted background noise. Similarly, any higher frequencies get reflected, and augment the voices of the performers towards the audience. Unquestionably it is unknown if the Greeks were aware of their acoustic implementation, as any other theatre subsequently produced did not share this sonic quality - making the experience of listening at the Epidaurus astounding.

Maya temples

Image Courtesy of Mayantemple

-acoustic riddles-

Temple of Kukulcan - Chichen Hza, Mexico

If you clap in front of the Temple of Kukulcan in Mexico, the sound will echo into the chirp of a bird - more specifically a quetzal. The distinctive tweet matches the sacred bird of the Mayan community, that once inhabited the ancient site of Chichen Hza. Acoustic studies by expert David Lubman uncovered that the irregular dimensions of the Kukulcanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s steps built in 600 A.D. produce both the high pitched and lower pitched elements of the birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chirp. Sound recordings and sonograms of the echo and the unique quetzal were compared, resulting in a striking similarity in frequency, length and harmonic structure. Although the architectural intentions are questioned, the archeoacoustics of Mayan temples have shown numerous forms of sound transfiguration and augmentation. Subsequent studies revealed that a sound resembling rainfall is emitted from the bottom steps of the temple, when footsteps trample along the top level of the pyramid. Additionally, most of the ancient Mayan ruins are giant sound amplifiers, due to their limestone material, resonating sound for at least 100 metres. The Mayans collected at these locations for vast spiritual ceremonies, and surely used the acoustic qualities of the temples to augment their festivities.

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sonata of sleep

Image Courtesy of Cabinet Magazine

-sleep labs of the soviet empire-

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Konstantin Melnikov’s proposal for the laboratory of sleep, 1930

Following Joseph Stalin’s implementation of the Five-Year Plan in 1928, which called for the rapid industrialization of the economy and expansion of heavy industry - the people became deprived of the essential activity of rest. Between the extended work hours, grueling drudgery and food rationalising, the troops reached the verge of physical and mental exhaustion, making slumber imperative. This prompted the Soviet authorities to introduce a competition to design a “garden suburb outside Moscow, where workers could be sent to recuperate from the strains of factory labor” Cabinet Magazine stated in their 24th Issue. Architect Konstantin Melnikov produced a structure named the “Sonata of Sleep” which fit the criteria for the ‘relaxing retreat’. The building was made up of two large dormitories with a sloping floor which could “obviate the needs for pillows.” Control booths on either end were implemented to manage the overall living conditions, regulating the temperature and air pressure, along with what music would resonate through the building. Specially selected sounds such as the sining of nightingales, the rustling of leaves or the movement of waves were to echo throughout, in order to amplify the process of sleeping. The controlled environment was intended to instantly relax the shocktroops, taking it as far as incorporating mechanised beds which gently swayed them all into deep slumber. However the ambitious architectural project of the early USSR was never implemented, but Melnikov went on to produce a plethora of innovative structures, and his ambitious utopian proposal remains as fascinating and haunting today as ever.

the eyes of the skin

-Juhani pallasmaa-

“Every city has its echo which depends on the pattern and scale of its streets and the prevailing architectural styles and materials. The echo of a Renaissance city differs from that of a Baroque city. But our cities have lost their echo altogether. The wide, open spaces of contemporary streets do not return-110sound, and in the interiors of today’s buildings echoes are absorbed and censored. The programmed music of shopping malls and public spaces eliminates the possibility of grasping the acoustic volume of space. Our ears have been blinded.” ‘The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses’ by Juhani Pallasmaa. Part 2 : Acoustic Intimacy.

acoustic mirrors -wwI concrete â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;listening earsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;-

The 30 foot Acoustic Mirrror in Denge, Kent

Secluded on a lake in Denge, Kent, lay three forgotten concrete structures tilting towards the sky. The eerie vestiges have become one with their surroundings, enveloped within forests and weathered rocks, trapped by the peripheral lake. Located along the south east coast of England, the isolated concave dishes are referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;listening earsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by the locals and attract curious visitors from all around. Built during WWI, the sound mirrors were an acoustic experiment, used in order to trace incoming aerial invasions that would take place across the English Channel. With trained listeners spending days on end, trying to pick up any distant noises coming from the sky, the early warning systems temporarily provided aid to the British, however the development of faster aircraft and radars soon made them obsolete. 70 years later the three remnants still stand strong, silently facing the sky.

sound mirror tours www.rmcp.co.uk/NoticeBoard.php

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The 300 foot Acoustic Mirror in Denge, Kent

From Left: The 30 foot, 20 foot and 300 foot Acoustic Mirrors Denge, Kent

photography: Alexia Stam & Jack Wates camera: Canon DSLR 1000D & 35mm Canon A1 location: Denge, Kent, UK

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;As the unity of the modern world becomes increasingly a technological rather than a social affair, the techniques of the arts provide the most valuable means of insight into the real direction of our own collective purposes.â&#x20AC;? - 21-- Marshall McLuhan, Philosopher and Media Scholar. 1

turntable -of the month-

Image Courtesy of Transcriptor

TRANSCRIPTOR - Hydraulic Reference -

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Any Stanley Kubrick fan with an eye for music technology, will have noticed a modern turntable present in various scenes of `A Clockwork Orange’. Malcolm McDowell shared the screen with the `Hydraulic Reference’ by Transcriptor in the 1971 classic. Built by the late David Gammon - Transcriptor was the world’s leading producer of manual turntables, known for their sleek and minimal design, along with them exposing all of the inner components. The turntable that was named after it’s hydraulic nature, which allowed users to fine-tune its speed, has since been favoured for its pure beauty and collector’s value. A true piece of engineering excellence that brings joy - even when enclosed in its glass case. www.transcriptors.net

Headphones

-of the month-

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Images Courtesy of GRADO LABS

GRADO - GS1000i -

With the company motto being ‘Music is the most important element’, GRADO has succeeded in producing headphones that emit perfect sound and surpass nearly every competitor whilst also being beautiful objects. Founder Joseph Grado was inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame in 1982 for his remarkable products and continues to keep such high standards today. Each headphone is hand assembled with great attention in oder to emit a natural high definition sound, free of any external noise interference. With a padded cushion allowing the ears to ‘sit’ and not be crushed, a greater amount of space becomes filled by the resonating music. The vented diaphragm within each headphone provides a 20,000Hz bandwith, giving the highest audible resolution for human hearing. The design strays away from traditional black and white, with GRADO’s GS1000i model featuring mahogany wood detailing, giving it a warm vintage feel. This model has won numerous awards due to its exceptional sonic quality and overall sound experience presented to its customers. Although it sells for a hefty £1,150 some may find that its outstanding tonal quality justifies its price. www.gradolabs.com

Images Courtesy of GRADO LABS

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GRADO GS1000i, £1,150

Speakers -of the month-

oswald mills audio - The OMA Imperia -

Images Courtesy of Oswalds Mill Audio

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The Oma Imperia is an object of beauty. The ultimate speaker by Oswalds Mill Audio took four years to perfect - resulting in a unique and powerful sound system. Comprised of vintage looking wooden conical horns made from solid Pennsylvanian, in either Black Walnut, Cherry or Ash - customers can choose which shade suits their space best. Aside from the sculpture-like look, the speaker handles 20Hz to 20 000Hz, allowing one to not only hear itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality but also feel itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence. OMA has achieved to stay true to old fashioned technology, by amplifying its sonic abilities but still savouring the nostalgic spirit. www.oswaldsmillaudio.com

PEOPLE PEOPLE

Harman Kardon - Soundsticks II -

Image Courtesy of People People

Image Courtesy of Harman/Kardon

- The Invisible Speaker -

Swedish Industrial designers ‘People People’ have made decorating a lot simpler with their Invisible Speakers. Made mostly of glass, and with the sound emitting components clear to see, the speakers work with a wifi plug - reducing the clutter of intertwined cables. It is still not available for purchase, but once the time comes, the Invisible speaker will add a perfect sonic signature to any creative household.

www.peoplepeople.se

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The Harman/Kardon Sound Sticks II speakers have an alienesque quality to their three part structure yet produce a clean and accurate sound. Ideal for mp3 players and computers, the comfortable sized parts combine several speakers into each unit, giving a large acoustic outlet without requiring enormous hardware. The original Soundstick had Apple’s assistance for the design aspect, clearly reflecting their minimal aesthetic. It’s shape is alluring and even glows in a soft blue shade when the sun goes down.

www.harmankadron.com

Bang and olufsen Image Courtesy of Bang and Olufsen

-the human ear is the final judge-

Bang and Olufsen - Beolab 8000 Loudspeaker. £2940 set of two

Danish audiovisual ‘super-brand’ Bang and Olufsen are renowned for their excellence in quality and design. Founded by engineers Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen in 1925, the acoustic products surpass any other company through their high quality craftsmanship and iconic aesthetic, earning its well deserved reputation.

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From the modern classic silhouette of the Beolab 8000 loudspeakers, beautifully built to subtly stand with attitude, to the new modern Beolab 5 loudspeaker that has not only set a new standard in sound delivery through its effective frequency range of 20Hz to 20,000Hz (covering the entire human audible spectrum), but in addition contributing to modern design due to its unconventional and captivating shape. Surface allure is not the sole priority though, as B&O’s designs are also internally exquisite. With a philosophy of always reproducing sound as authentically as possible, the engineers have mastered a system to produce pure sound, which still stays true to its original form. Through extensive stages of physical electroacoustic tests taking place in ‘The Cube’ - the largest such privately owned measuring facility in the world - the sound quality is assessed, and perfected. Yet, although modern technology allows ultimate control and minimal space for error, at B&O the human ear is considered the final judge of sound quality. The ‘Listening Panel’ consists of a select group of B&O employees who are chosen according to the hearing capabilities, acoustic recognition and their ability to express what they are hearing. Formerly known as ‘The Golden Ears,’ when introduced in 1981 ,they still continue to trust the human listening experience and consider this panel a high priority. Regular tests examine the listening panel, in order to sustain the level of excellence that B&O is known for. Even when a speaker has passed every physical test within ‘The Cube’, if the listening panel is not satisfied by what they hear, the product cannot go into production. The human perception of sound is vital, hence every single speaker that has ever been associated with the Bang and Olufsen brand, has had a one-onone performance session with The Golden Ears - having earned its stamp of approval.

www.bang-olufsen.com

bang and olufsen: The human ear is the final judge

Image Courtesy of Bang and Olufsen

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Bang and Olufsen: Beolab 5 Loudspeaker. ÂŁ7500 set of two.

BOOK

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Image Courtesy of Amazon

Image Courtesy of Orion

Image Courtesy of Basic Books

-mark-

Godel, Escher and Bach :An Eternal Golden Braid

On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno

acoustic territories: sound culture and life

Douglas R. Hofstadter A stimulating book surrounding the structure of meaning through three influential figures. A link is formed between the paradoxical drawings of M.C. Escher, the iconic Fugues of Johann Bach and the intricate logic of Kurt Godel’s mathematical Incompleteness Theorem. Hidden dimensions are uncovered, philosophically analysing each character in relation to each other. Deep and sophisticated as it is, it may take a long time to read, with continuous flipping of the pages - both back and forth - forcing you to not only enjoy it, but also to think.

David Sheppard An eloquent authorised biography, with Brian Eno’s own input contributing extra details to his prolific career. Music journalist David Sheppard successfully collates Eno’s manic and sometimes incoherent life, producing an informative and amusing book which honours the influential musician. Providing insight into Eno’s collaborations with the likes of David Bowie and U2, to his preferences of sound equipment, this engaging read is ideal for anyone remotely interested in music - not only for the Enophiles.

brandon labelle Covering the spectrum of sound in everyday life, Brandon Labelle delves into the role of noise in archetypal urban spaces - from public zones to personal homes. By bringing in theorists, artists and architects’ opinions, ‘Acoustic Territories’ ignites interesting applications and roles that sound can transform into, along with sufficient historical support. Put together in the form of sections, and analyzing each space makes the readers more aware of the sounds occurring around them.

Published by basic books, 1999

Published by Orion, 2009

Published by continuum, 2010

FILM

sound of noise directed by Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson

A group of guerrilla artists cause havoc through their alternative and sometimes threatening techniques of performing music. ‘Sound of Noise’ is a humorous and enjoyable film following a deaf policeman who is trying to capture the anarchist musicians, as they illegally play their music across the city, from attacking banks and using the money as an instrument to playing suspended cables as violin strings. This SwedishFrench crime film embraces the beauty of sound, even if it is expressed as noise. DISTRIBUTED BY WILD BUNCH, 2010

Image Courtesy of IMDb

Image Courtesy of Studio Canal

-list-

it’s all gone pete tong directed by michael dowse Michael Dowse’s faux documentary is about a successful DJ named Frankie Wilde who loses his most prized possession - his hearing. It unveils the dark side of the club scene and Frankie’s self abuse and despair upon losing his valued sense, resulting in him learning to depend on the vibrations of sound instead. With excessive house music enveloping the DJ’s rise and fall, and final rise once he learns to deal with his disability and inner demons. DISTRIBUTED BY MATSON FILMS, 2004

PRESS PAUSE PLAY directed by David worsky and Victor Köhler

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An inspiring collection of interviews and discussion with people from the creative field, such as Moby, Hot Chip and Lena Dunham. Press Pause Play combines beautiful footage with fascinating characters which outline the changes in technology within their spectrum of art, showing how things are rapidly evolving. The development of music consumption plays a big role within this documentary, along with general points on how the creative scene is becoming easier to join, but harder to survive in. The producers refer to it as a ‘film about hope, fear and digital culture’ - perfectly summing it all up. DISTRIBUTED BY HOUSE OF RADON, 2011

SOUND JARS - preserved vibrations photography: Alexia Stam

ÂŁ12 Summer Solstice Edition 2012