The Royal College of Art Students' projects - Demo
Bryan Yueshen Wu and Laura Selby
MYcelium
Abstract :
MYcelium is a multi-sensory experience inviting visitors to interact with fungal forms, connected to a reactive audio-visual environment around them. Through a series of interactions, aspects of their own identity are captured and expressed through audio and imagery, manifesting into their own mycelium network. The concept of the piece explores the possibility of extending our own remembered existence into the ancient network, currently threading trillions of connections beneath our Earth’s surface. Across the Wood Wide Web, information and resources are shared through mycorrhizal connections between fungi and plant roots. Trees that have spawned from older generations can be recognised by their relatives through their root tips, enabling favoured relationships; by sharing nutrients supporting their survival. These data points of identity indicate a form of shared memory within the greater environment of the forest. Is there a way that the human world can connect to this network of memory? Are we able to perform information exchanges with the network, of our own aspects of self; through gesture and shared communication? These are the questions we hope to explore through our installation presented.
Bio :
Laura Selby is a London based sound artist and violinist, with a background working in sound and music design for film, TV, immersive platform and theatre. Recent exhibits include audio visual film More Than Concrete for The Albany Open Source Collaborations, soundscape composition Birth Rites for the Designer in Residence Exhibition at the London Design Museum and recent debut of ambisonic composition Shirley Dawn at IKLECTIK, London. Laura is currently studying an MA in Sound Design within Information Experience Design at the Royal College of Art. Current research explores the sonification and connection of varying scales of communication in space and time, creating multi-sensory installation works, utilising extended field recording techniques, audio immersion and musical composition.
Bryan Yueshen Wu is a student in the Information Experience Design programme at Royal College of Art. Having graduated from Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, he has a background of industrial and product design. In his recent work he has incorporated field recording, audiovisuals and generative art, to explore the intersection between immersion and interactivity. His work interrogates ways audiences experience new forms of reality and existence, applying these investigations to create new forms of multi-sensory experience.
Shangyunwu
Keep In Sonic Touch
Abstract :
“ Hearing is basically a specialized form of touch. Sound is simply vibrating air which the ear picks up and converts to electrical signals, which are then interpreted by the brain. The sense of hearing is not only the sense that can do this, touch can do this too. ”（Glennie 2015） What kind of sound does our skin listen to ? What does soundscape mean for remote communication ? With the inspiration of sound process and vibroscape, 《Keep In Sonic Touch》is a research-lead project aimed to experiment with the information transmission for letting people feel closer when communiting remotely. “ The vibroscape is the entire set of substrate or airborne vibrations that is present in a specific portion of a geographical area. ” （Sturm et al. 2018） If a soundscape contains so much landscape information, when it is transformed as vibration, can the soundscape captured on our skin be designed as a tangible interface for people feeling closer when communicating remotely ? With these questions, I started a wearable device which aims to translate the sounds into tactile information, concretized as a tangible interface to make people feel closer when communicating from a distance.
Bio :
Shangyunwu is a sound and media researcher, designer and creative technologist aka lover from Taiwan. Her focus has been much on exploring from the inherent humanity to speculate the possibilities in using new media technology for delivering the auditory information both in the virtual and physical world.
Nicholas Faris
Object Ensemble
Abstract :
This is generative sound sculpture performed through the resonance of matter. This piece explores our attention to sound through sculpture as the interactive performer. Tapping into the fundamental frequency of each object demonstrates our own resonances and the way in which this informs our engagement with our sonic environment. This sculpture mimics the human behaviour of ‘call and response’ (influenced by feedback loops and cybernetic systems theory) within the context of composition and ensemble. The object becomes a metaphor for the body, mind and sonic gesture. As music has the ability to occupy a space of personal resonance and introspection, this piece welcomes a listening experience into the natural motions moving between perceived harmony and dissonance. What can we learn about our inner responses to sound through experiencing performance?
Bio :
Nicholas Faris is a Welsh, London based sound designer and musician whose interests lie in natural phenomena, listening and cognitive perception. With a background in creative music technology, Nicholas is currently studying his postgraduate degree in Sound Design at the Royal College of Art. He has been exploring the sonic properties of material as a sculptural tool to explore modes of listening, composition and performance. His current research investigates how silence, from an introspective approach, informs responses to ‘noise’ within creative practice. In Nicholas’ work he explores the crossover between digital synthesis and organic properties of sound exploiting natural sonic gestures and tonal content found within his source material.
JP Guerrier
13800 Hz
Abstract :
"13800 Hz" is directly linked to my experience with tinnitus. Considering the interaction of tone from a phenomenological standpoint, the installation investigates how a metallic tinnitus like tone winds and intertwines with the sounds and environment around it. The piece questions how this affects perception and traditional concepts of silence. The project consists of sonic sculptures built from ceramic and steel. It combines organic bodies with inorganic materials to create amalgamations of both, new posthuman possibilities of form and body. Influenced by the sounds of metal, industry, and technology "13800 Hz" considers sound not only as something that contributes to our phenomenological lived experience but also as a physical presence, an echo or ghost of its origin, piercing and combining with natural bodies.
Bio :
JP is a London based artist and sound designer currently studying MA Information Experience Design at the RCA. His work explores relationships between natural and human made materials, spaces, and sonic phenomena, as well as investigating the possible physical properties of sound. JP is also interested in interactions between art and science, and the possibilities of cross field collaboration and public outreach. Coming from a background in theatrical sound design, JP previously graduated from drama school in London and worked on various productions as a sound designer. Performance is another focus of his practice, and he is interested in the possibility of bringing experimental sound design and new sonic perspectives to dance and theatre practice.