Carrie Bodle

Sewing Sonifications (2009)

Supported by the City of Seattle ArtSparks public art program, I created a five channel sound installation and sewing performance sonifying data from an ecosystem model developed by UW oceanographic scientist Dr. Neil Banas. Sound is translated from data, then visualized and made tactile by embroidering the combined waveform into a continuous sound wave.

This computer model simulates the growth and consumption of plankton in the ocean ecosystem along the Washington coast during summer 2005. The five sound channels broadcast five dimensions in this data: wind (1) and tides (2) drive the currents and turbulence that bring nutrients (3) to the surface. Once in the zone where sunlight penetrates, phytoplankton (4) grow, zooplankton (5) eat the phytoplankton, and so on up the food chain.

I have realized that the central method in my work is to use underlining systems of data translating them into evocative experiences. I am inspired by what art historian and critic Caroline Jones calls “interrogative practice with technology”. She describes this as “ work that repurposes or remakes devices to enhance their insidious or wondrous properties; available data translated into sensible systems”. Embroidering these five sonified data sets as one ecosystem through a public art performance, research data from the Washington coast is made audible, visual, and tangible.

In collaboration with Dr. Neil Banas, UW Applied Physics Laboratory, and Keith Grochow, UW Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

This project was created with support from a 4Culture Individual Artist Project Grant.