In the Flesh exhibition
WaveUp is a kinetic sound installation that translocates a remote ocean environment, in real-time, to an urban gallery space. This project uses speakers connected via the Internet to Fisheries and Oceans Canada wave data buoys in order to translate instrumental data into motion and sound. The ocean's behavior is mirrored throughout the installation space. Ocean waves become sound waves.
The ocean's currents directly affect regional and global climates, but its physical force and influence have no representation in the urban landscape. Living in the city of Halifax, with an immediate proximity to the ocean, it is difficult to perceive the enormous and influential body of water that defines our habitat. It is intriguing that there exists a palpable gulf of experience between the two environments that are so closely inter-connected. This relationship is reciprocal, as the city has a direct influence on the global climate through pollution, heat generation, etc. The inter-connectedness of geographically separate and dissimilar environments is the major theme in this project. To address this theme, "WaveUp" aims to give people real access to a remote natural environment that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Water and sound are characteristically very similar; so much so that water analogies are often used when describing the physics of sound. For example, consider a pebble being thrown into a calm pond. Ring-shaped waves form around the place where the pebble impacts the water and then travels out in all directions, becoming weaker and weaker until finally vanishing. Sound waves travel through the air in a similar way. Ears respond specifically to rapid fluctuations in air pressure (sound) but the entire body is responsive to sound, especially at lower frequencies. Sound waves surround the body and travel endlessly until they run into an obstruction or weaken to the point of vanishing, filling all available space like the water in the ocean. In the "WaveUp" project, the aural environment of the installation space becomes an extension of the ocean environment. Sound replaces water.
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Steven Kelly
