AWSoM (Ambient Weather Sound Machine)
Site-specific sound work (collaboration with Stuart Bowditch, and the MediaShed).
AWSoM - The Ambient Weather Sound Machine - was 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, the island 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 reclamation, it challenged us to consider relationships between site, natural environment and trash consumerism.
AWSoM required sounds to be recorded it's site locale; the relationship between the site and the sounds recorded there gave each version of AWSoM a unique signature. Additionally, the dynamic weather data of each “performance” meant that even shown on a single site, AWSoM was ever-changing.
AWSoM - The Ambient Weather Sound Machine - was 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, the island 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 reclamation, it challenged us to consider relationships between site, natural environment and trash consumerism.
AWSoM required sounds to be recorded it's site locale; the relationship between the site and the sounds recorded there gave each version of AWSoM a unique signature. Additionally, the dynamic weather data of each “performance” meant that even shown on a single site, AWSoM was ever-changing.
Exhibition and installation timeline
v 0-0-2 (Two Tree Mix) 2007 onwards
April: Presentation at Enter_Unknown Territories: International Festival for New Technology Art, Cambridge
May: AWSoM launch and live performance, Two Tree Island, Southend.
June: Exhibited at Bang & Olufsen, Leigh on Sea (Leigh Arts Trail)
April: Presentation at Enter_Unknown Territories: International Festival for New Technology Art, Cambridge
May: AWSoM launch and live performance, Two Tree Island, Southend.
June: Exhibited at Bang & Olufsen, Leigh on Sea (Leigh Arts Trail)
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, creating ambient sound and music responding to changing environmental patterns.
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.
AWSoM: v0-0-2, 3 & 4 (Sept-Nov 2008)
Versions of AWSoM were featured in the Sound:Space - Screen showreel from 20th Sept-16th Nov and at the Sound:Space sound art symposium 1st Nov, alongside work from sound artists from around the world. The symposium featured presentations from Max Eastley, Ray Lee and Norwegian sound artist, Jana Winderen as well as a curated curated reel of fourteen A/V works submitted for the international “Sound:Space – Screen” overview, a surround sound installation recording “Beyond Ol’ Tokai” by Chris Watson, and a live performance by Max Eastley and Peter Cusack.
Versions of AWSoM were featured in the Sound:Space - Screen showreel from 20th Sept-16th Nov and at the Sound:Space sound art symposium 1st Nov, alongside work from sound artists from around the world. The symposium featured presentations from Max Eastley, Ray Lee and Norwegian sound artist, Jana Winderen as well as a curated curated reel of fourteen A/V works submitted for the international “Sound:Space – Screen” overview, a surround sound installation recording “Beyond Ol’ Tokai” by Chris Watson, and a live performance by Max Eastley and Peter Cusack.