In order to get some inspiration about other similar installations and contemporary work happening in London, I have attended to two exhibitions; The River by Jana Winderen at the National History Museum and On Being by Max Cooper at W1 Curates.
The River
This installation features field recordings from the river Thames recorded completely underwater and this soundscape is played through a wide array of speakers. The space invites you to chill, lay down in the carpet and listen to the greatly recorded sounds. Jana Winderen is a Norwegian sound artist specialised in recording deep sea sounds, sounds in ice and other sonic environments which are barely accessible from humans.
This is a fantastic work in acoustic ecology and it directly relates to my interactive installation, where I will also create a soundscape which will be played continuously through the speakers. The world of nature field recording is captivating and in this installation can be appreciated at its best. My project will also have visual representations, which is something that The River didn’t include but in terms of soundscapes, this visit was really inspiring and will help me developing these environmental sounds that I want to include in my installation.
This is an audio clip with some the sounds that I recorded closer to the speaker. I really love the water sounds and the high pitched buzzing from insects and fish, these are the kinds of sounds that I’d like to achieve for my work.
On Being
This was a purely audiovisual installation, which didn’t have any interactive element or nature/technology elements but it was very interesting to see as a visual work. The gallery was fully covered by led screens showing generative visuals and playing electronic music. Max Cooper is a London-based music producer who has been recently involved with different project in digital art and immersive experiences.
Although this can’t be an example for the kind of installation that I want to create, my work will feature two screens with generative digital visuals, and the graphics displayed on these room-sized screens were really inspiring for me. The image was so crisp and colourful and it had a raw digital and generative feel that I would like to achieve for my installation. W1 Curates is a new space for digital art in Oxford Street which is following the style of Outernet and also displays screen-based visuals to the street, I would really recommend it and I will be closely following further events in this gallery.