bug and bug
Description
bug / bug considers machine listening as a sound installation, presenting it in a site-specific three-dimensional audio environment. Beams of sound from comparable locations from just across the Hong Kong/Shenzhen border are made audible using rotating directional speakers, sonically activating the architecture of the exhibition space. Partial soundscapes and lasers are projected and shifted along the walls and the ceiling, transporting visitors into a parallel soundscape and allowing them to listen in, together with a neural network, as it navigates through field recordings in Ambisonics, a spherical audio format. Through the installation, visitors embark on a psychogeographic journey across the transborder agglomeration.
Hong Kong and Shenzhen may be described as a transborder agglomeration – cities separated by a border but in close proximity to each other. The work features field recordings taken at locations in Shenzhen with comparable contexts to Oil Street, Hong Kong.
The parametric speakers emit modulated ultrasound which is highly directional, creating a “beam” of sound more similar to light than conventional audio. The sound remains inaudible until it is reflected off an object such as the wall, the ceiling or a person at which point it is demodulated and sound appears to be emitted from the reflecting object. The point at which the sound is reflected is illuminated by the laser, and marks out the interiors of the space in a process akin to echolocation and used in sonar.
The field recordings were captured in Ambisonics (spatial audio), a spherical/3D format used in conjunction with 360-video and Virtual Reality. The audio is scanned in real-time, and a narrow segment or “beam” being analysed may be heard.
Biography
Ryo Ikeshiro is an artist, musician and educator researching the possibilities of meaning, context and materiality in sound and audio technologies. His practice includes installations and live performances using sonification, Ambisonics field recording, machine listening and video. He has participated in inaugural exhibitions at Asia Culture Center, South Korea, and M+, Hong Kong, and his TeleText art pages have been broadcast on German, Austrian, Swiss and Finnish national TV. Publications include a contribution to Sound Art: Sound as a medium of art (ZKM Karlsruhe/MIT). He is an Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, where he co-directs SoundLab, a spatial audio research/practice unit.
Materials
Cylindrical plinth: wood, with cables inside.
Parametric arrays (directional speaker) and laser on rotary base and bracket with two servo motors, cables.
Cube box: wood with Mac Mini, 2 Arduinos, audio interface, cables, monitor display (for set up).
Organisation
City University of Hong Kong
Acknowledgments
The work presented in this project was partially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU 21602822).