Project μπA (micropia) is a research between correlation of light (video projections, production of video material) and dynamics of water surface in relation to sound (influences of sound frequencies on water surface) by Stella Ivšek & Anja Romih aka BEAM TEAM (visual) and Črt Trkman (sound design).
At PIFcamp, we will focus on the production of video material based on images obtained using a digital microscope. Images of natural structures and organisms will be modified and projected back onto natural surfaces. We want to realize the project in the form of a simulation of the natural environment also in the gallery space osmo/za. The installation would include a mapped video projection on objects brought from the natural environment and the reflection of light on the water surface, the structure of which is changed by the sound frequencies of modulated sounds of nature.
The presentation may also include recordings of processes and research conducted during PIFcamp.
Ambisonics is a spherical surround sound format, which in addition to the horizontal level also contains sounds above and below the perceiver. Unlike other formats, its channels do not carry signals for individual speakers, but a representation of a spherical sound field, which is independent from the number of speakers. As a result, it allows the sound producer to think about the spherical origin of sounds and doesn’t have to deal with the final sound reproduction. In addition, it allows more freedom in the speaker placement, as signals representing the sound field can be decoded into any sound system.
The format was developed as early as the 1970s, and is recently gaining popularity again. There are three reasons for this:
patent expiration, which brought to many open source and proprietary software implementations,
the applicability of the format in the field of virtual reality,
as the development of sound processing, recording and production quality is reaching a limit, it becomes more interesting to develop sound spaciousness (HiFidelity <HiSpatiality)
The DIY ambison dome will be a matrix of 8 speakers placed on the dome, which was developed and used as part of PifLab and past PIFcamps.
Encoding and decoding will be done by using SuperCollider and Reaper DAW environments. Testing will involve playing, listening to and testing different algorithms for manipulating the sound field and different decoders into an array of 8 speakers. The aim of the project is to document the setup, the necessary resources and the quality of an affordable ambisonics sound format system.
aqua_forensic 2.0 is a project by Robertina Šebjanič and Gjino Šutić, focused on DIY simple water analytics & effect of the invisible pharmaceutical pollutants in water.
Project aqua_forensic illuminates the invisible anthropogenic (pharmaceutical) chemical pollutants – residues of human consumption – “monsters” in the waters. The project combines art/science/citizen science in a “hunt for a phantom” and opens the discussion about our solidarity and empathy with waters beyond human perception. It’s a voyage into the relationship between the microbial seas and humans who are aquaforming the water habitats all around the planet. The question is: How do the oceans feel our impact?
During PIFcamp Robertina Šebjanič and Miha Godec will host a proto aqua_forensic workshop and develop an open source tutorial on this topic. Workshop participants will be introduced to the problematics of contemporary invisible water pollutants through practice by the artists. Through hybrid approach (combining science, DIY citizen’s science & art) these topics will be investigated in local environment.
aqua_forensic is supported by Ars Electronica within the EMAP/EMARE project, Projekt Atol Institute, UR Institute (HR), Čistoća Dubrovnik, The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, and The Ministry of Culture of the R. of Croatia, Sektor Institute (SI), co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
When photography is used to collect data about physical objects, organisms and their environment it is often referred to as photogrammetry. The observation of changing landscapes through satellite imaging or ecosystem response via stationary cameras is a widely used technique. Nonetheless, direct time resolved photography in the context of soil research has so far not been thoroughly explored.
The use of (sometimes modified) scanners for creating time-lapse videos of root growth, composting, insect behaviour, etc. is well established and often generates highly aesthetic imagery. There are many advantages of using scanners instead of cameras: after some waterproofing, scanners can be literally buried in whatever material you would like to observe. They illuminate the object/organisms only for a comparatively short time and record high resolution images. Also, since they have a fixed focus and a stable distance to the object (none), several common sources of error are eliminated.
During PIFcamp Julian Chollet will experiment with time-resolved DIY-Photogrammetry to investigate soil structure and humus accumulation as part of the ongoing HUMUS sapiens – open soil research program. The techniques as well as the results will be documented and shared with the community to promote open-source approaches for soil analysis and regeneration. HUMUS sapiens represents a compilation of soil explorations emerging from the networks of mikroBIOMIK, Hackteria, and Gasthaus – with the ambition to bring DIY (do-it-yourself) and DIWO (do-it-with-others) approaches as well as an open-source-based “hacker spirit” into soil ecology. Participants are invited to reflect on current scientific discourses and critical societal challenges through hands-on tinkering and curiosity-driven research.
At PIFcamp, I will be leading a hands-on workshop, where you will learn how to solder electronics and build your own Sonaqua sound player, which makes audio synth sounds based on water-quality using the Mozzi libraries. This is a custom circuit board based on the ATMEL architecture and is powered by a 5V USB battery with two wires that make sounds when you put them into a glass of any water.
The workshop will take 2-3 hours, depending on your level of experience with soldering and circuits.
Unnatural Language
During PIFCamp, I will be prototyping a new project called Unnatural Language (built in a collaboration between Michael Ang). It is a network of electronic organisms (“Datapods”) that create sonic improvisations from physical sensors in the natural environment. Each Datapod has custom electronics connected to sensors, a speaker, and a wireless network. The sensed data, for example from electrodes that measure the subtle electrical variations in the leaves of plants, is transformed into a unique synthesized sound. Encased in sculptural materials (natural fiber, leather, leaves, etc) and dispersed into a natural environment, the Datapods enter into a sonic dialogue with the existing ecosystem of plants and animals.
I have built 8 of these during my PIFresidency along with several software synthesizers on the ESP32, which I will be playing with in the natural environment. At PIFcamp, I plan to build boats and other vessels to house the sensors. This project grew from my work on Sonaqua as well as experiments last year at Dinacon.
I’m a part of a collective where we try to expend the idea of creating real time live analogue visuals from a wide variety of different sources. But the main tool that I’m using is DIY Eurorack unit (that is not finished, that will never be finished) plugged into two oscilloscopes combined with old school video cameras and a video mixer or two or three and some other equipment that I redesigned for our purposes. The idea of creating visuals with sound is as thrilling to me as the whole process working on it.
Besides visualising sound I’m also very keen on the idea to actually hear that sound. So yes. I’m much into sound, synthesizers and lights. Oh. I also like plants. An idea is to combine plants and synthesizers to somehow merge them into one unit. Basically to create visuals with sound you cannot hear and with living beings. I’m more them open to participate on any workshop that has to do with sound and light. I’m very looking forward to my first PIFcamp.
The project is an interactive site-specific sound installation co-created with interested members of the PIFcamp community. A series of speakers and light sensors will be mounted on the trees in the forest close to the main area of the camp in order to create a light-responsive soundscape. The installation can be experienced in the daytime due to the continuous changes of the light conditions (sun movement, clouds, leaves movement etc) or equally in the night time where the visitors can interact with the outdoor space with torches. The second scenario will additionally give an interesting light dimension to the piece where the silhouette of the shadow of the participants will be projected on the surrounding space.
During the stay I am planning to give a workshop on embedded sound-music programming and the technologies used for the project. The interactive music system will be developed on a small single-board computers open-source platform (the Bela platform) specifically designed for low-latency interactive audio. Bela offers high performance audio and sensor processing witch can be done in C or in Pure Data amongst other standard programming environments for computer music and new media art. With this knowledge the participants can consider using Bela board for their future projects; I recommend it especially for sound related interactive projects. Pure Data is free and open course and can of course run on a laptop and on other single board computers (i.e. Raspberry Pi) so again, this knowledge is transferable to other projects too.
With the participants we will explore soundscape composition concepts, experiment with small patches for interactive sound processing and music composition, develop new patches, record sounds from the surrounding environment (we could also create miniature compositions by using materials from the surrounding environment as musical instruments ) and create collectively the interactive soundscape by jamming and exploring the interaction together. In the end we will install the system in the forest with the sensors and the speakers. I will provide the Bela boards and the speakers. The participants will have to bring a laptop running Pure Data, ideas and every cool skill they have in creative projects and music.
Ewen Chardronnet, Marie Albert and Mona Jamois will be participating to PIFcamp as embedded chroniclers and participative observers. Ewen Chardronnet & Marie Albert will report (interviews, chronicles, photos, social media) for Makery.info online media, a member of the Feral Labs Network. Mona Jamois will collect/reflect good practices as organiser of the Summerlab 2020 that will close the Feral Labs Network 2019-2020 series.
Makery is an online information media (newsletter, website, social networks) founded by Digital Art International in June 2014. It aims to cover the dynamism and give out information on the creative communities and the scene of labs, fablabs (fabrication laboratories, terminology born in the United States within the Medialab of MIT in 2001), makerspaces (for community tinkering), hackerspaces (spaces self-managed by people wanting to divert technologies), medialabs (dedicated to new media experimentation), living labs (also known as third places, they encompass users-industries co-design in processes of innovation and experimentation), biohacklabs (the scientific, DIYbio and bioinformatics version of hacklabs), artlabs (dedicated to artistic production). It is a media in DiY mode: with its small team, Makery progressively grows in an open, transparent and participative manner, following the principles of digital ethics born by the lab wave.
Nantes Summerlab (France) is a meeting, a temporary cooperative workshop, which brings together people with different motivations, cross-disciplinary disciplines (creators, researchers, activists, entrepreneurs, artists …), around themes (nodes) they interrogate together. It is a space and a moment to make, think, share, cooperate, built to allow the greatest conviviality (free, hospitality, mix, kindness, free spaces, shared meals, parties, etc.). The contents are proposed by the participants. Participation is free upon registration, without selection criteria. Nantes Summerlab is organised by PiNG.
Read the full interview by Marie Albert (Makery) below:
FM radio is old, noisy, and often called obsolete, but somehow it seems to never die. Smartphones FM radio functionality and cheap receivers make it still easily accessible.
During PIFcamp, Klemens Kohlweis will temporarily install tiny, autonomous FM radio transmitters in the surroundings of the camp. Within a range of only a few meters, they will transmit the sounds of simple electronic circuits that amplify or react to their surroundings with microphones, light and wind sensors, creating a listening experience that is unique to a specific point in space and time. Other participants are invited to hook up their own devices to a transmitter to take part in a final soundwalk.
Pure Data is a free/libre open source software for manipulating sound and datastreams. It uses small boxes on a screen connected by lines to twist the flow of bits. This could mean synthesising sounds, processing effects or even make things move. This dataflow-oriented programming is more like shaping and molding, rather than writing down pages and pages of instructions to achieve a goal.
In this way it is more immediate and intuitive for developing instruments, sound sculptures and (interactive) installations.
This workshop comes in four parts. Each part is composed of roughly 30 minutes of theory and 30 minutes of playful discovery. They build on each other, but can be joined (or left) based on the individual level of skill. The first session will cover the basics of PD, which means installing the software, control versus audioflow, basic operations, stream and message types. This is followed by a rough overview of synthesis, i.e. making sounds and noises. The ensuing session covers audio processing like playing files from disk, recording audio to disk, creating/using filters and effects. The final part covers interaction with the outside world using the Arduino, MIDI, OSC, MIDI, and/or computer networks.
To get the most out of the workshop bring a laptop (running Linux, OS X, or Microsoft Windows) and a headphone. You can also bring a mouse, your Arduinos (and Raspberry Pis), as well as basic electronics like LEDs or switches. You will be able to play files based on different triggers and sculpt audio in realtime by processing a multitude of sources.
