AWSoM (Ambient Weather Sound Machine)
Site-specific sound work (collaboration with Stuart Bowditch, and the MediaShed).
AWSoM - The Ambient Weather Sound Machine - is a free media artwork integrating meteorological sensors (temperature, windspeed, direction and motion, barometric pressure) to trigger and manipulate sound samples, creating ambient sound and music responding to changing environmental patterns.
Created with the support of the Mediashed, it was first shown on Two Tree Island in the Thames Estuary. Reclaimed from the sea in the 18th century when a seawall was built around the saltmarsh, it was used for rough grazing until 1910 when a sewage farm was built on its eastern tip. In 1936 Southend Borough Council acquired the whole island and used it as a rubbish tip until the 1970s. Now an Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve, as a site with a history interwoven with rubbish and reclaimation, it challenged us to consider relationships between site, natural environment and trash consumerism.
AWSoM requires sounds to be recorded in the locale where it is exhibited; the relationship between the site and the sounds recorded there give each version of AWSoM a unique signature. Additionally, the dynamic weather data of each “performance” means that even shown on a single site, AWSoM is ever-changing.
AWSoM - The Ambient Weather Sound Machine - is a free media artwork integrating meteorological sensors (temperature, windspeed, direction and motion, barometric pressure) to trigger and manipulate sound samples, creating ambient sound and music responding to changing environmental patterns.
Created with the support of the Mediashed, it was first shown on Two Tree Island in the Thames Estuary. Reclaimed from the sea in the 18th century when a seawall was built around the saltmarsh, it was used for rough grazing until 1910 when a sewage farm was built on its eastern tip. In 1936 Southend Borough Council acquired the whole island and used it as a rubbish tip until the 1970s. Now an Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve, as a site with a history interwoven with rubbish and reclaimation, it challenged us to consider relationships between site, natural environment and trash consumerism.
AWSoM requires sounds to be recorded in the locale where it is exhibited; the relationship between the site and the sounds recorded there give each version of AWSoM a unique signature. Additionally, the dynamic weather data of each “performance” means that even shown on a single site, AWSoM is ever-changing.
April 2007: Presentation at Enter_Unknown Territories: International Festival for New Technology Art, Cambridge
v 0-0-2 (Two Tree Mix)
May: AWSoM launch and live performance, Two Tree Island, Southend.
June: Exhibited at Bang & Olufsen, Leigh on Sea (Leigh Arts Trail) More images: AWSoM @ LAT
v 0-0-2 (Two Tree Mix)
May: AWSoM launch and live performance, Two Tree Island, Southend.
June: Exhibited at Bang & Olufsen, Leigh on Sea (Leigh Arts Trail) More images: AWSoM @ LAT
Samples of wildlife recorded on Two Tree Island nature reserve – including the rare avocet bird – in competition with trains, planes, automobiles, dogs and people, create ambient sound and music responding to changing environmental patterns. More details and recordings AWSoM @ Two Tree .
v 0-0-3 (Shopland Mix)
July: Live performance and exhibition with new sound mix, Sutton with Shopland Festival, Essex.
July: Live performance and exhibition with new sound mix, Sutton with Shopland Festival, Essex.
The original Two Tree Island mix made way for the sounds of Shopland. Samples of John Deere tractors, irrigation systems, people, cars and steam trains (yeah woo baby!) create ambient sound and music responding to changing environmental patterns. More details and recordings AWSoM @ Shopland .
v 0-0-4 (Banff Mix)
August: Live performance and exhibition with new sound mix, Banff New Media Institute, Canada, as part of Interactive Screen 0.7
August: Live performance and exhibition with new sound mix, Banff New Media Institute, Canada, as part of Interactive Screen 0.7
A whole new version of AWSoM was prepared and recorded specially for the Interactive Screen 0.7 conference at the BNMI in Banff, Alberta. The sounds of flags (Canadian of course), prize giving at a Teachers fun run, a stairwell, a xylophone in a fashion shoot, German sight seers, Japanese tourists, French speaking hikers, freight train horns and squirrels all add up to make this new mix. More details and recordings AWSoM @ Banff .
