SOIL CHOIR v.0.1

Jiří Suchánek

/ poly / interactive sound installation

Materials: clay, steel, plexiglass, ice, capacitive sensors, speakers, Bela, Supercollider

Three sensors measure humidity at different depths in meter columns of clay. The acquired data controls the pulsation rate and other parameters of the digitally real-time generated sound that is projected from each object. There is a polyphonic space-structured polyrhythm which changes in response to changes in soil moisture.

The sonification of natural soil processes tests the limits of our attention, patience and desire to still perceive ultra-slow reactions and examines the mechanisms of our adaptation. The musical time of the installation is set on a scale that is not very close to one's perception of sonic changes.
The installation deliberately uses plastic and electronics to communicate in a fundamentally different environmental theme as a reflection of the current state of information mostly through the environmentally problematic technologies we use every day (high energy consumption of the Internet and data services, heavy metals in mobile phones, the onset of AI…). The paradoxical situation and the question of possibilities, solutions and ambivalence of the solution remain only indicated by this gesture but not answered as a memento of the current complicated situation of the bio-techno-socio-complex.

www.jiri-suchanek.net/en/project/soil-choir

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