DEC(L)AY - a sound installation / feedback loop (2019 > ongoing)
Learning how to throw the wheel, making pots and the like, had been on my bucket list. I enjoyed the marathon to learn this from September to December 2018, sitting for hours and hours behind the wheel. (It's a very joyful activity, yet I know now I don't want to be a potter). Of course, kilos of clay I have spent to learn it, recycling the failed works over and over again. One day, I became aware that when you throw the dried clay back into the bucket of water to recycle it, zillions of air bubbles pop up in the bucket.
What would I hear if I would put a hydrophone in that same bucket? It's exactly what I did, and the result was truly astonishing!
Will there be a difference in sound when using different types of clay? And will the forms of the dried clay effect the difference in the dissolving of the material, hence the sound? I am working on these questions to find the answers.
Simultaneously, for already some years, I have an increasing interest in the concept of cybernetics (control systems, feedback loops, regulatory systems and so on). I came to the idea to combine this "sound discovery" with this interest, creating a binaural sound installation of ceramics in which the (level of the) sound controls the entire loop. The result above is the first try-out, presented at Quartair Contemporary Art Initiatives in The Hague (7-9 June 2019).
Together with the amazing support of Johan van Kreij, I developed the first part of the 100% self-referential to-be installation. This first step towards this goal has been the way in which the level of the sound controls the input and output of the water pumps according to the water level sensors in both glasses. When the level of the sound is low, meaning the dried clay has been disintegrated, the water will be sucked out. Fresh water is pumped in after XX seconds.
This work will be further developed in the second half of 2019.
M A T E R I A L, M E D I A & I N T E R F A C E
Clay, ceramics, water, 15 m of water tubes, 4 water pumps, two hydrophones, Scarlett 2i2, Max MSP, 4 water sensors.
V I D E O
You will hear three sound examples of "outbursts" in the below video. The sound is without any effects, filters, or whatsoever.
Raw material.