The 4th PIFcamp project: Oscillatorium

Another project on PIFcamp comes from our own Ljubljana-based intermedia artist Robertina Šebjanič, who in her art practise places her interest to the fields such as the humanist and natural sciences, bio-art, noise/sound art and much more, and Monika Pocrnjič, a visual art education student with interest in art, esthetics, biology, technology, anthropology and pedagogy.

Oscillatorium – Living systems oscillation

The sonification of environment, or sonification of processes, is communication; a step towards understanding inter-species’ communication and inter-species co-existence. Analogue oscillators do not exist only in the field of electronic circuits, but also in nature, which is why this project attempts to deepen and continue the research and development of natural electronic synthesizers – sound objects.

In the field of natural sciences, predominantly biology, the use of natural oscillators is dedicated to the study of the ways of functioning of the natural world within its temporal structure. A simple example of this is the functioning of the heart and circadian rhythms, which represent the information flow from the working processes in our brains. Circadian rhythm enables us to understand and monitor time and helps us to maintain our everyday rhythm on the basis of electro-chemical oscillation of the cells. Within this project we would like to concentrate on the study of various living systems (animal and plant species) and through them establish a specific oscillation for each of the species, which we would then assemble into a sonic-visual experience.

Theoretically we would be referring to work of botanist Jakob Johann von Uexküll, more specifically to his A Foray Into the Worlds of Animals and Humans, with a Theory of Meaning. Von Uexküll introduced biosemiotics as a research field and defined the term umwelt (milieu, situation, embedding – lit. German for environment). The expression usually refers to the so-called “self-in-world” subjective reference frame. The biological basis at the heart of his studies originates from a reflection on the communication and discerning of the meaning of what is human and what is animalistic. The fundamental thought of Uexküll’s theory is that organisms can have different umwelten, even when they share the same environment.

The project Oscillatorium is in its development phase and will debut at Kiblix festival 2015 (produced by Kibla). The collaboration at PIFcamp will be in the form of debates, experimentation and research.

Key words:
bio-sonification, natural oscillation, vibration, analogue, bio-analogue