Field notes, April 2008
Fields is a series of four audio collection stations situated near hubs of social activity in a lounge/gallery. The collection stations work to gather audio input and environmental soundscape from the individuals who are in the space. Each collection station also has an interactive element as individuals can "plug-in" their MP3 players to the station and listen to their own music in an open speaker system located inside. The stations are designed to enhance the social environment aesthetically and by improving indoor air quality.
The work is designed for each unique environment. For this particular installation, the stations are wooden growing beds (planters) that feature live wheat grass above the speaker and receiver systems. This means that the audio output is located under a root system of introduced vegetation. This configuration works to gently "massage" the plants rhizomal network by aural vibration. This is also a way of introducing a subtle form of communication between organisms – plant and human, and also an investigation in audio-based plant perception.
The introduction of the Fields serve as a contribution to the indoor environment by increasing oxygen - the living organisms improve air quality and filter toxins in air. This relationship is symbiotic as the plants also benefit from the high volume of people emitting carbon dioxide (conversation) in the space. It is important that the system is fully integrated, therefore, input from humans contributes to the soundscape through talking or music introduction into the stations, the soundscapes travel to a transmitter and are distributed back into the environment through receivers that are located in each of the four stations.
Leakage
An another element of the Soundcycling process is that the environmental sounds collected also travel past the physical boundaries of the walls through wireless transmission. This suggests an architectural openness or a leakage that works to negotiate physical boundaries of space and temporality.
Thank you to J.Granzow for construction of planters.
Untitled from kelly jaclynn andres on Vimeo.