Shell of

FILE 2024 | Installations
International Electronic Language Festival
Marc Vilanova – Cascade – Spain

Waterfalls are a continuous source of infrasonic frequency found in nature. Although inaudible to humans, they play a crucial role in ecosystems, especially for migratory birds who use them as a compass. However, many waterfalls have lost their frequencies due to climate change. The work creates an immersive experience in which the audience interacts with the visualization of sound waves, experiencing the vibration of sound through illuminated strings.

Bio

Marc Vilanova is a sound and visual artist who works at the intersection of art, science and nature. Vilanova’s artistic production has always been led by a spirit of innovation fueled by an interest in new media. His practice combines sound/light installations, performance, and sculpture.

Credits

This work was partially carried out within the scope of the EMAP program at gnration, with the support of the Creative Europe Culture Programme, the Avatar Center in Quebec City and the Ramon Llull Institute.

Photo:
Eloise Coomber

Oracle Collection
The performance centered around ORACLE, a digital palm reading given by model and iconic muse Axelle Doué. The surrounding luminous dresses embodying the four elements— air, earth, water, and fire—come alive during the reading, with mirrors reflecting them into infinity. The pieces are crafted from diverse materials, both natural and synthetic. Well beyond typical textiles, Clara Daguin implements optical fibers, pleating, embroidered circuits, addressable LEDs, sculpted resin, home-grown alum stone crystals, Swarovski Elements, silk organza, microcontrollers and radio frequency modules.

SMS Slingshot
file festival

SMSlingshot
The SMSlingshot est un lance-pierre numérique qui envoie des SMS colorés sur les murs, telles des billes de paint-ball. La recette est simple, ou presque : un vidéo projecteur, un lance-pierre en bois muni d’un pointeur laser et une radio à Ultra Haute Fréquence. L’utilisateur utilise le clavier du lance-pierre pour écrire son message, vise un mur et le bombarde. Son SMS s’inscrit dans une tâche de peinture colorée.
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SMSlingshot
Der SMSlingshot ist eine digitale Schleuder, die wie Paintballs bunte Textnachrichten an Wände schickt. Das Rezept ist einfach oder fast: ein Videoprojektor, eine Holzschleuder mit Laserpointer und ein Ultrahochfrequenz-Radio. Der Nutzer schreibt mit der Schleuder-Tastatur seine Nachricht, zielt auf eine Wand und bombardiert diese. Ihre Textnachricht ist Teil einer bunten Lackierung.

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SMSlingshot
SMSlingshot è una fionda digitale che invia messaggi di testo colorati ai muri come palline di vernice. La ricetta è semplice, o quasi: un videoproiettore, una fionda di legno con puntatore laser e una radio Ultra High Frequency. L’utente utilizza la tastiera a fionda per scrivere il proprio messaggio, mira a un muro e lo bombarda. Il suo messaggio di testo fa parte di un lavoro di pittura colorato.

Sonic Mountain
As a unique site-specific commission for the Donum Estate, Los Angeles-based artist Doug Aitken has created the ethereal work Sonic Mountain (Sonoma), three concentric circles of suspended stainless-steel pipes whose differing lengths form a wave at their base, mirroring the free Euler-Bernoulli shape that describes the chime’s frequency. Installed in the eucalyptus grove, measuring forty-five feet in diameter and twice human height, and comprising 365 chimes — one for each day of the year — Sonic Mountain (Sonoma) works with one of Donum’s most persistent elements, the Carneros breeze that cools the grapes and creates a temperate zone for growing Pinot Noir. Each day, the warm wind begins its soft whisper, rustling through the vines and trees, building in strength through the day until mid-afternoon, and then gradually diminishing in force. Known to have been used since at least the ancient Roman period in Europe and the second century in India and China, wind chimes create chance, inharmonic music. At Donum, Aitken has teamed up with his friend the composer Terry Riley to compose chords in the chimes to be played by the wind , depending on how it blows, so the lyrical work sounds throughout the estate, demonstrating the artist’s practice of making installations that synthesize many media and are never constrained by tradition.
video

Pianographique
Pianographique is a series of collaborations of real time visual artist Cori O’Lan and Maki Namekawa. The visualisations are not videos that are more or less synchronous to the music and it is also not the musician’s playing to prefabricated material, they are jointly created together in the moment of the performance. As with most of Cori O’Lan’s visualizations, all graphic elements are derived directly from the acoustic material, i.e. the sound of the music. For this purpose, the piano is picked up with microphones and these signals are then transformed by the computer into a multitude of information about frequency, pitch, volume, dynamics, etc… This information, in turn, is used to control the graphics computer, create graphical elements or modify them in many ways. Since these processes take place in real time, there is a direct and expressive connection between the music and visual interpretation. The visualization is actually not “created” by the computer but much more by the music itself – the computer is rather the instrument, the brush operated, played by the music.

Mirage Gstaad
“Mirage Gstaad by Doug Aitken uses the frequency of light to reflect the sublime Alpine landscape as part of a continually changing encounter in which land and sky, subject and object, inside and outside are in constant flux. Standing in contrast to the surrounding chalet’s the ranch-style structure suggests a latter-day architectural version of Manifest Destiny, the westward migration that began in Europe and finally settled in California. With every available surface clad in mirror it both absorbs and reflects the landscape around in such ways that the exterior will seemingly disappear just as the interior draws the viewer into a never-ending kaleidoscope of light and reflection.

Waldian
Waldian is a standalone, wall hanging sound and light fixture capable of playing a near infinite amount of melodic permutations over a predetermined musical scale, complemented by emerging light patterns from twelve separate LEDs spread across the sculpture. In technical terms, Waldian contains two oscillators, an envelope generator and a voltage controlled amplifier, all controlled by impulses from a network of logic gates akin to those of early computers. These impulses are essentially the nerves in the electronic ecosystem, deciding over pitch and amplitude changes as well as creating bursts of light to highlight the entrances of each note. Finally, there is a tube overdrive stage that creates harmonic and subharmonics based on how far away the two oscillators are from each other in frequency. Most parameters are customizable, such as the aforementioned pitch, amplitude and overdrive, but the responsiveness and envelope of the light bursts can also be adjusted, directly affecting the appearance of the light patterns.

Dazzle Camouflage
Dazzle Camouflage is a mode of camouflage that uses confusion rather than concealment as its method. Developed in the early 20th century, Dazzle Camouflage was often added to naval ships, which were painted to feature perplexing black and white patterns. In these uncertain times with access to immense amounts of information and when terms such as fake news, deep fakes, alternative facts are becoming part of our lexicon, we often find that the true meaning of our inquiries as with all our desires is concealed by confusion. To participate a user can enter a search word or hashtag to search Twitter. The frequency of the word on Twitter is used to generate black and white patterns. The software will continue to search for the word on twitter and create more complex patterns as the frequency of the word increases.

Tele-Present Water
This installation draws information from the intensity and movement of the water in a remote location. Wave data is being collected in real-time from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data buoy station 46075 Shumagin Islands Alaska (53°54’39” N 160°48’21” W). The wave intensity and frequency is scaled and transferred to the mechanical grid structure resulting in a simulation of the physical effects caused by the movement of water from this distant location.

Coworo
Coworo is an installation with a shape changing liquid that loses its texture under a spotlight and looks almost solid. After a while, bubbles appear on the surface and disappear again, as if it were breathing. The waves gradually change their size, position, and frequency and develop into physical, continual, kinetic, three-dimensional animations that extend beyond the discrete 2D pixel pattern. Through the hybrid combination of the digitally programmed machine and the organic properties of the physical material, the object creates a constant flux of ephemeral shapes and patterns.

sound cloud
London-based designer kazuhiro yamanaka has created the ‘sound cloud’ a light-emitting quantum glass speaker system installation for saazs ‘a glass house’ program. the structure is composed of five interactive monolithic glass panels, formed with the intention of modelling the integration of innovative glass within architecture and design. the sound and light radiating from ‘sound cloud’ shift in unison, their synchronization may be altered by the viewer as they adjust their aural and visual experience by means of a touch-screen controller.
yamanaka aspired for the visitors to ‘be able to hear the sound move from one to another, jumping back and forth and echoing from the panels.’
a sound module is attached to each panel. as it vibrates,the three layers of glass move at a frequency, which creates optimum sound quality. the sound for the installation was developed by the france-based sound designer, gling-glang. yamanaka and gling-glang devised a soundscape by which ‘sound cloud’ visitors were able to sense the sculptural construction of the music in walking through the installation’s glass-paneled pathway.
the glass is outfitted with a light-emitting system known as ‘LED in glass’, invented by quantum glass. through this technology, the panels become a source of light. the ‘sound cloud’ is illuminated as the LED bars are fitted around the edge of the panel in order to direct beams of light through the edge of the extra clear glass sheet. as a result, light refraction occurs from the front side by means of a white enamel screen print on the opposite side.
yamanaka chose to slightly obscure the brightness of the glass sound system by creating a thin layer from millions of light dots, culminating in a cloud-like shape.

Equilibrium Variant
This work has the purpose of exploring the occurrence of the Larsen effect (also known as feedback) through the use of mobile devices in a three-dimensional space. The distinctive screech of the Larsen effect typically occurs when a microphone catches the sound emitted by a speaker. It engages when the microphone is located too close to the speaker, and gets in the way of its frequency. The microphone amplifies and reproduces the speaker’s frequency with an ever-increasing width, virtually unlimited, in practice stopped by the amplifier’s clip. On a ground support, two mechanical arms are located. At the end of one arm there is a microphone, and on the end of the other there is a speaker. A software, created with this specific purpose, manages the position of the arms in a dynamic way, and provides that the distance between the microphone and the speaker never causes the amplifier to clip. This way, the system tends to reach an equilibrium that is physically impossible to attain. The struggle to balance creates an acoustic and visual dimension that is never the same: the frequency of feedback and the movements of the mechanical arms are always different and change in real time.

geometric death frequency 141

“The title of the piece is a pun that, with irony, alludes to the exceeding of tradition, irreconcilable dichotomy between life and death in a sculpture made, provocatively, by lifeless forms“, adds Diaz. “The line between life and none-life is more fleeing than we usually think: think about a virus that attacks a complex organism and reproduces in the same way as a micro-organism, even though it’s only an agglomerated of lifeless molecules: a natural crystal that, even though is a stone, can be born and undergo a fascinated process of growth that mimes perfectly the ways of an organic life“.

Sound City
Suspended from the ceiling by two springs and equipped with an oscillating weight fixed inside its body, a Sound City loudspeaker shakes in a disorderly manner in space. The music it plays reacts directly to the movements as if the musicians were inside the loudspeaker and trying in vain to adapt their playing to the turbulences. The originality of the movements comes from the pulsations and interferences produced by the interaction of two coupled harmonic oscillators (the spring and the pendulum) not having the same natural frequency. The two pneumatic jacks to which the springs are attached control the amplitude of the swings.

Sensing Streams
In their first collaboration, Sakamoto and Manabe render a wide range of frequency bands and magnetic radiation waves, which fluctuate in response to portable devices, visible in an unprecedented form.

Self Luminous 2 – Unbalance
Self-luminous 2 is an experimental handmade instrument shown as performance. It is a series-project which I have been working on since 2013 and finally developed into shape in 2014. I am looking for intimate and personal instrument that reflects on the relation of digital sound and light message. In computer language, light on is 1 and light off is 0. If more than 2 lamps, it could be code or readable possibility by the meanings. When I press the button or turn the knob, the message will be sent to Pure Data, and the sound will be triggered in live by Pure Data.
The Data of sound such as frequency and volume, are analysed and sent out to the second Arduino to control the light. The light, in thus case, is an intuitive element for human beings. From this point, it is really close to sound which disturbs our biological body directly. The lights are visualised and they can be transferred the into messages. The message might be readable by coincidence with the link to the code. The light is bright enough to let audience to have persistence of vision in mind. During the performance, the sound will be reproduced by code and part of it is impromptu.
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See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
In taking on the triptych form, Yoshihide Sodeoka’s “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil” finds transcendence in the intense frequency of violet noise. With a title referencing the Three Wise Monkeys 17th century carving over the door of the famous Toshogu shrine in Nikko, Japan, Sodeoka uses the digital video medium — specifically the trope of video feedback and television static bars — to represent a contemporary form of positive mindfulness and action.

In 1939, the technique came to be known, in the Soviet Union, under the name “Kirlian effect”, in honor of Semyon Davidovich Kirlian, rediscoverer of the same. The method consists of photographing an object with a photographic plate, submitted to high-voltage and high-frequency electric fields, but with low current intensity. The result is the appearance of an aura, or rather, a “luminous halo” around objects, whatever it may be, regardless of whether it is organic or inorganic.

16 pillars

Skinstrument is a musical instrument which can be played by two players. By means of a tiny imperceptible current the players become part of a circuit. When the players touch each other on the skin this circuit starts to generate sound. The intensity of the touch determines the frequency of the sound.

Field and Loops

Loops and Fields, is a collection of drawings that resonate sympathetically to the electromagnetic fields within the gallery. These graphite drawings function as graphic antennas and explore the qualities and inherent nature of a combination of hand-drawn and mathematically generated forms. Delving into algorithmic structures, fractals and the chaotic nature of the hand drawn line, these drawings are an exploration of conductive materials and the possibilities for drawing electronic components. When connected to a sound system they make audible their interior activity and reveal the energy that exists in the immediate environment.Relying on the basic principles of the directional loop antenna, the drawings in Loops and Fields, like any receiving antenna, convert an electromagnetic wave into a voltage; the loop antenna is particularly sensitive to magnetic fields and outputs a voltage proportional to that field. Monitoring this activity allows us to experience the local fields and generates a site-specific and dynamic aural landscape.The different shapes and line qualities that make up the algorithmically generated and stencilled drawings come from thinking about the possibilities of extending a line. Fractal mathematics and the research into fractal antennas has focused on reducing the overall size and space an antenna needs to occupy. My interest is in the frequency range at the lower regions of the spectrum, where the wavelength is large; so my interpretation of recent antenna design research has led me to explore the possibilities for drawing antennas that can receive large wavelengths, on something the size of a standard piece of fine art paper.

The Body, Color Coded in Kelvin Temperature According to Frequency
of Depiction

Vocal Trio
FILE FESTIVAL
“Vocal Trio,” which consists of three musical instruments, transforms the voice of a singer or a speaker received through a mike into a sound of each musical instrument while maintaining the same rhythm and musical scale. A pipe horn, which looks like a long trumpet or pipe, makes a deep and low-tone horn sound. A water bell, which looks like a water drop, makes a clear bell-sound, and a leaf flute, which looks like a leaf, makes a reed pipe sound. The spectator’s voice is transformed into the sound of a musical instrument by means of a microcontroller chip. The microcontroller chip of each musical instrument makes a sampling of his or her voice’s frequency. A sampling of the voice made through frequency data is sent to midi chips, which transform it into the sound of a particular musical instrument and the sound is released through the speakers.

MID AND PLAYMODES
radial and blaus
‘radial’ and ‘blaus’ are two interactive lighting installations, both a result of the collaboration between catalonia-based digital research collectives MID (media interactive design) and playmodes. ‘blaus’ introduces the abstract realm of three dimensional geometry through the mediums of audio and illumination – this could manifest as a cube or a blossoming flower, a grid or a jellyfish, a mutant framework of reflecting lights which submerge the audience into a multi-faceted universe, driven by hidden forces of the architecture. ‘blaus’ is an immersive space where audio-visual elements relate
intimately to impact on the visitor. the process led the designers to build most of the software and hardware elements themselves, by means of algorithm design, digital fabrication techniques and craft handwork. on the hardware side, the use of open source technologies, such as arduino, allowed us to create a flexible electronic system easily addressable by opensound – control data. ‘duration open source software by
james george was used in order to independently control, compose, and play a full score for the laser diodes, servomotors, lights and music.on the sound design side, all music and sound effects are made through the use of audio programming environments such as predate and reactor.
custom digital instruments are made in order to exactly match the resonant frequency of the space and its harmonics.
‘blaus’ is an immersive space where audio-visual elements relate intimately to impact on the visitor.

Whatever You Say (low frequency sound)

SPACIAL SOUNDS

Spatial Sounds (100dB at 100km/h) is an interactive installation that is capable of very intelligent behavior. Not only can the arm spin quickly or slowly, it can also make very well-defined movements in both directions. On the one hand, Spatial Sounds (100dB at 100km/h) lives a life of its own; on the other, it reacts very directly to the people in its space. The sensor can detect how close the visitors are and where they are in relation to the arm. When the installation scans the space, it makes inspecting movements and generates sounds that symbolize this scanning. It produces remarkably short, loud pulses and ‘listens’ to the reverberations from the empty space. The pulses combine different frequency ranges and rhythmical patterns. When visitors enter the room, they are detected immediately. The installation reacts in both a musical and a gestural way. The sounds relate directly to both the position of the arm and the dynamic ‘map’ of the space and the visitors. These sounds are very physical. For example, when the speaker is pointing at someone, it will generate a specific sound. This is also the case at high speeds and with several people in the room. However, the sounds and movements of the arm also tempt visitors to move around. Different locations in the space represent different sounds, as does the distance of the visitors to the rotating arm.

Рафаэль Лозано-Хеммер
拉斐尔·洛萨诺 – 亨默
ラファエル·ロサノ=ヘメル
라파엘 로자노
רפאל לוזאנו, המר
Frequency and Volume at The Curve
他目前在巴比肯（Barbican）的The Curve展览中，利用观众的身体调谐到不同的无线电频率，从空中交通管制到警察再到在狭小空间内切换到Magic FM。 作为一个自白的书呆子，Lozano-Hemmer接受过物理化学而不是艺术方面的培训也就不足为奇了，直到过去的四年里，博物馆才开始收集他的作品。 从他的早期装置《表面张力》中，观众可以看到整个房间，到最近的《字幕公众》，其中红外线设备跟踪了观众，Lozano-Hemmer就像是一个无政府的举报人，暴露了用来控制我们的精密设备。

The Harmonic Series

File Festival

Created by Manuela Donoso and Luisa Pereira, The Harmonic Series is a collection of mechanical devices , software, sculptures and prints that explore the relationship between musical and visual harmony.Inspired by the nineteenth century mathematician Jules Lissajous who invented a device to visualize sound vibrations using two tuning forks and a beam of light reflected from one mirror to the next to a screen, Manuela and Luisa have re-created and extended this experiment using recent tools. An electronic version of the device replaces the tuning forks with microphones and speakers, allowing people to sing different musical intervals, and contrast the resulting figures with the more chaotic ones generated by percussive sounds. An application plays groups of three notes and plots 3d Lissajous figures for their frequency ratios. The frequency ratios for major, minor and diminished chords are 4:5:6, 10:12:15 and 20:24:29 respectively. These chords were plotted using the app, and then printed as posters and sculptures that reveal a tight relationship between aural and visual harmony.

light frequency fingertips
File Festival

Skinstrument
File Festival

Skinstrument is a musical instrument which can be played by two players. By means of a tiny imperceptible current the players become part of a circuit. When the players touch each other on the skin this circuit starts to generate sound. The intensity of the touch determines the frequency of the sound.