Sonification (what, where, how, why), A Symposium :: March 4-5, 2010 :: École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix en Provence, Aix en Provence, France.

The purpose of this symposium is to conduct a state of the art review of the use sonification* within art projects, with a focus on the use of data taken from our surroundings (in a broad sense) as opposed to gestural interfaces or electronic instruments.

What distinguishes sonification from other forms of data mediation? What are the different ways in which sonification is used in art? What parallels, similarities, differences & contradictions exist between the use of sonification or audio display for technical & for artistic purposes? What differences in the artistic approach does the use of realtime as opposed to recorded data imply? What is the importance of the relationship between the source of data and the way in which it is mediated? Continue reading

Carrie Bodle: Sewing Sonifications Performance :: October 10, 2009; 2:00 - 6:00 pm :: Westlake Park, Seattle, WA.

Visual and sound artist Carrie Bodle will create a five-channel sound installation and sewing performance sonifying data from an ecosystem model developed by UW oceanographic scientist Dr. Neil Banas. Sound is translated from data, then visualized and made tactile by the artist embroidering the combined waveform into a continuous sound wave.

This computer model simulates the growth and consumption of plankton in the ocean ecosystem along the Washington coast during summer 2005. The five sound channels broadcast five dimensions in this data: Continue reading

Upgrade! Boston: China Blue and Joseph Butch Rovan :: September 22, 2009; 7:00 - 9:00 pm :: Center for Advanced Visual Studies | MIT N51-390, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd Floor, Cambridge, MA.

China Blue is an internationally exhibiting artist who is interested in how sound shapes space. She searches for the hidden acoustic identity of a structure, and uses those sounds as sculptural material to create immersive environments. China Blue’s work has been shown in galleries and non-profit spaces world-wide, including Finland, Sweden, France and the US. She was the US representative at OPEN XI, Venice, Italy, an exhibition held in conjunction with the Architecture Biennale. Continue reading

World X Diagnostics by Megan Michalak and Stephanie Rothenberg :: August 13-27, 2009 :: Opening: August 13; 6:00 - midnight :: Harvestworks, NYC :: Public Launch: August 15, 2009; noon - 3:00 pm :: Finland.

World X Diagnostics is a revolutionary system that evaluates and diagnoses citizen responses to socio-economic conditions resulting from the global economic meltdown. Public data measuring gross national well being is collected from participating users and translated into real time sound frequencies through programmed algorithms. Through the system’s network, users are able to access the compiled data from their geographical region, as well as from any location on the globe. Continue reading

Issue Project Room premieres a live performance of R. Luke Dublois’ Hard Data and presents works by Tony Conrad, David Soldier, and Brad Garton — performed by the Mivos String Quartet :: June 25, 2009; 8:00 - 11:00 pm :: Issue Project Room, At the Old American Can Factory, 232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY.

Turbulence Commission: Hard Data by R. Luke DuBois [Needs Flash plugin and speakers; wait for data to load] Hard Data is a data-mining, sonification, and visualization project that uses statistics from the American military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq as source material for an interactive audiovisual composition based around an open-source “score” of events. Continue reading

AC [Institute Direct Chapel] presents Tone and Temperament :: June 18 - July 18, 2009 :: Opening: June 18; 6:00 - 8:00 pm :: AC [Institute Direct Chapel], 547 W. 27th St, 5th Floor, #519-529, New York, NY.

Tone and Temperament is a group-exhibition that considers the temporal and expandable material of sound. Curated by Sophie Landres and in collaboration with the eight participating artists, this exhibition concentrates on sound as a condition for personal, social, political and metaphysical experience. In addition to the permanent fixtures in the gallery, performances will be scheduled to occur throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Tone and Temperament was conceived as an opportunity to explore literal and conceptual ideas of harmony versus discordance and innocence versus criminality that subsist within the framework of conflicting social norms and art historical precedents. Continue reading

Electronic Music Foundation presents Sound in the Frying Pan — Eight sound artists board the lightship Frying Pan for a three-day event of site-specific compositions :: May 15, 2009; 7:00 pm; May 16, 17; 12:00 - 9:00 pm :: Lightship Frying Pan, Pier 66, West Side Highway (at 26th Street), New York City.

Jessica Feldman’s Sirens plays off the conflict between warning sailors, the original function of the lightship, and the natural seduction of sound :: Melissa Clarke, Ben Owen and Shimpei Takeda’s Underfoot recreates the bottom of the Hudson River within the ship with projections, sound and reflective materials composed of geographical data. Continue reading

Turbulence Commission: Hard Data by R. Luke DuBois [Needs Flash plugin and speakers; wait for data to load] Hard Data is a data-mining, sonification, and visualization project that uses statistics from the American military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq as source material for an interactive audiovisual composition based around an open-source “score” of events. Using Xenakis’ understanding of formalized music as a starting point, DuBois draws upon a variety of statistical data ranging from the visceral (civilian deaths, geospatial renderings of military actions) to the mundane (fiscal year budgets for the war) to generate a dataset that can be used for any number of audiovisual compositions. Continue reading

Pace Digital Gallery is pleased to present Turbulence@ PaceDigitalGallery, an exhibition premiering 3 works commissioned by Turbulence.org :: April 7 - May 1, 2009 :: Reception: April 7, 5:00 - 7:00 pm :: 163 William Street, New York City.

Hard Data — by R. Luke DuBois — is a data-mining, sonification, and visualization project that uses statistics from the American military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq as source material for an interactive audiovisual composition based around an open-source “score” of events. Using Xenakis’ understanding of formalized music as a starting point, DuBois will use a variety of statistical data ranging from the visceral (civilian deaths, geospatial renderings of military actions) to the mundane (fiscal year budgets for the war) to generate a dataset that can be used for any number of audiovisual compositions. Continue reading

Tune into DNA-Radio — After creating pictures from the human DNA code and getting an incredible amount of positive response, the step to convert the data to audio came into our minds… After some thinking and lots of tests, we are converting the whole human genome to audio and streaming them now to the Internet, 24/7. The idea is quite simple, every base is read and broadcasted instead converting it to a color. With DNA-Radio we don’t visualize the chromosome, we sonify it and have now completed a full audio-visual DNA representation of human chromosomes.

It’s like radio, everybody listening hears the same code at the same time, the audio never gets repeated and when we have aired all chromosomes, this project is over. Continue reading