SONOMATERIA is a multi-user sound sculpture, installation, tangible sound interface and intersensory composition. The work aims to explore the sonic manifestation of touch, via experimenting with the mutual reinforcing effect that the manipulation of tactile and auditory perceptions can have on each other in the context of art and design.The installation takes the form of a tangible interface that invites spectators to manipulate digital sound via tactile interaction with a selection of physical cubes made of 16 distinct materials: Polystyrene, Coal, Cork, Wood, Industrial Rubber, Clay, Sponge, Stone (Granite), Coal, Wax, Synthetic Leather, Vinyl, Iron, Gaffer tape, and Plasticine.

A unique library of sounds was designed for each material, containing a selection of different sounds which reflect and respond to properties and subjective tactile qualities of each particular material, considering its texture, weight, surface, etc. Positioning of cubes manipulate the attributes of sounds and determine their spatial, quadraphonic distribution in the installation space. Via physical interaction with the materials, spectators can navigate through, re-arrange, form and deform a pre-existing fragmented sound composition. The interface responds with tactile and sound feedback, attempting to position the spectator in a loop of intersensory synesthesia.

Schlafzeug is an underwater sound composition exploring the theme of REVERSE through the dynamics of dreams.
The composition is inspired by the concept of ‘Reverse Learning’, a neurobiological theory of dreams, according to which the brain, during its REM phase of sleep, supposedly sifts through information gathered throughout the day and throws out all unwanted material in order to sustain efficient organization of memory. In Schlafzeug, synthetic sound layers are orchestrated in constant movement towards nowhere, phasing in and out of harmony, attempting to poetically resemble the disarrayed yet often very clear and mysterious narrative structure of dreams.

Drawing upon a notional link between dreaming and the experience of being underwater, a great part of the work was sonically designed to be performed underwater, exploiting the omnidirectional way sound is perceived in water, which could be compared to the omnidirectional occurrence of events often experienced in dreams.

listen to a 3min. excerpt (stereo version):

Arsenal Brain is a conceptual sound composition dealing with the social mechanisms of control which (successfully) attempts to constrain, define, shape and regulate one’s natural and individual skill of sensing. In a reality where increasing efforts are being made to restrain our ability to sense, and where every thought and belief is superimposed upon us and induced from external elements, we have lost our ability to even desire freedom.

To what extent, then, are we still connected to our body wisdom if at all? How could art, and particularly sonic art, be used to reverse engineer the very same social control mechanisms in order to regain our autonomous ability to exploit our senses?

Part structured and part chaotic, part accessible and part alien, the composition is designed for 8-channel performance, and employs a combination of spatial psychoacoustic techniques, aiming at engaging the listener in a disorienting sonic experience, which stands to represent the artificial, deceptive social mechanisms of control that fundamentally encourage and nurture one’s apathy, numbness and modes of unthinking.

listen to a 2min. excerpt (stereo version):

Bi-pass is a responsive site-specific installation which explores the rhythm and dynamics of public spaces and their impact on the individual. Commissioned by the cultural administration of the city of The Hague, the installation was built specifically for The Hague City Hall, an enormous white atrium designed by architect Richard Meier.
Bi-pass took the form of a confined opaque passage of telephone booth-size, placed in the center of the atrium’s ground floor, continuously capturing real-time ambient sound and visual movement in its surroundings. These were digitally manipulated and projected within the passage, forming a micro-space in which a solitary audiovisual observation of the atrium could be experienced.

Pain threshold measurements are done individually, where participants are invited to insert their forearm into an electronically enhanced vise tool, and use the vise handle to slowly adjust the pressure level on their forearm.
The increase and decrease in pressure level are represented through sound, image and material; audible and inaudible sounds are generated in response to pressure level changes, and low frequencies vibrations are stimulating the behavior of a non-newtonian fluid, changing its viscosity and polarization according to the pressure level on the forearm. Each measurement session lasts approximately 2 minutes, at the end of which the machine outputs a printed graph showing the different pain levels that were achieved and experienced during the session.
The composition created by this mechanism, forms an appealing audiovisual result, which encourages the participant to increase the pain/pressure level on his forearm in order to further explore the reactions of the changing sound and fluid.

The work was set up in a narrow dark space, based around an old staircase leading to a brick wall.
The following sound was present:

Sound design for Mastermundo Creative Conference video bumpers.

Spamology is a live audiovisual representation of word frequencies in spam e-mail messages.
The visualization is based on analysis of a private archive of spam messages which were collected during 10 years (1998-2007), containing up to 2,000,000 emails originated from various parts of the world. Spam data is visualized in a 3D landscape, where popular words are represented as rectangular structures of various heights, illustrating the occurrence rate of each word in the archive year. Next to the visual representation, each word generates an audio signal with a frequency related to the number of times it occurred during a certain year. Words of various frequencies flow through the 3D landscape simultaneously, forming a constantly-changing sonic texture.

Spamology is a part of ongoing research examining the nature of Spam as a digital-cultural phenomenon.
The project aims at visualizing the links and interrelationships between the contents of spam, the user/ individual and the society, by revealing patterns which may reflect cultural and social trends, behaviors and variations.

Spamology was a collaboration with Santiago Ortiz / Bestiario and was realized during Visualizar ’07 data visualization production workshop in MediaLab Prado, Madrid.

→ Enter Spamology (online version)

Biolumen is an artificial video object absorbing light available in its surroundings and reacting audio-visually to its intensity fluctuations. The information transfer through a computer from tiny photoresistors to a big projection screen follows the logic of ‘Small Medium Large’ and illustrates the predominant desire in the age of digital miniaturization to gain control over the large amount of data using smallest possible, ubiquitous electronic devices.

The work is an experiment combining elements of generative art and sensor fusion potentially applicable in the commercial field of interface design and gaming.

Biolumen was a collaborative project with Pawel Pokutycki and Przemek Siemon, premiered at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, as part of the Small/Medium/Large group exhibition (Nov. 9th – Dec. 14th, 2007).