Echosystem​​​​​​​

Group: Arsalan Akhtar, Liam Clarke, Masha Shirokova

This installation involves 20+ screens and engages participants that create a network through sound. Incoming sound is measured by the devices and this data is used to influence the visual and auditory aspects of the installation. Sound data is used as a variable within functions to affect the size and shape of the visuals. Audio synthesis using P5.js is used to create responsive sound to the participants input. The features of the oscillators are also determined by the data from the external audio input.

While the network depends on our participation, the devices concurrently relay messages through audio data. After we start the “conversation" there is a cascading effect as the screens interact with each other through sound, creating a bi-communications network via analog transmissions. 

Visually, every factor on the screen is affected by participant and device interactions. We created a voice synchronized procession of lines, color and sound that highlight and explore the sound as a drawn experience. The installation is continuously changing  at each moment. The incoming audio data influences how each segment is drawn in terms of shapes, number of lines and scale.  This is in contrast to a drawing or painting that is largely fixed in time and creates an opportunity to draw with voice and sound. Through interaction, the participants are able to affect the majority of the piece, bridging installation and performance art. 

We were looking for a modular shape which expressed the sound in an interesting way, apart from a directly representative waveform. We started with complicated gradients which overtaxed the processors of mobile phones so we dialed down certain variables in the draw function. Line segment density was a factor of amplitude multiplied by a variable, which we lowered till the image could be processed without latency.

The final image is a linear abstraction, drawn through external and internal sound.