Sound The Mound

Translating ecological data into sensory experiences

In this course, students will address complex issues of climate, sanitation, consumer behavior, landfill reclamation, public parks, cellular technology, public art, sonification and more. We will work with three partners: Freshkills Park, a reclaimed landfill in Staten Island that will be almost three times the size of Central Park (2200 acres); Arable Labs, a remote monitoring technology developed for crop management that uses sensors and cellular data to measure and communicate rainfall, crop water demand, water stress, microclimate, and canopy biomass; and Gaynor McCown Expeditionary High School. Students in this course will build upon a prototype called “Botanical Transmissions” that emerged from a 2016 Transdisciplinary Studio, which translates data into music-by-and-for-plants using a genetic algorithm that responds to the health of the plants at the park, and will develop additional concepts that take inspiration from this prototype.

Recently added!

100% Philadelphia – Rimini Protokoll

Your view of Philadelphia may vary widely depending on what neighborhood you live in, how much...

Ekene Ijeoma – Deconstructed-Anthems

Deconstructed Anthems is a music performance and light installation in which a...

Sonic Kayaks

The Sonic Kayak is a musical instrument with which to investigate nature. Kayaks rigged with...

Sublime frequencies: The construction of sublime listening experiences in the sonification of scientific data

Sublime frequencies: The construction of sublime listening experiences in the sonification of...

Meet the scientist who turns data into music—and listen to the sound of a neutron star

From Science Magazine: "From stock trends to changes in Earth’s temperature, data that vary over...

Botanical Rhythms: A Field Guide to Plant Music

An article in the Sound Studies blog Sounding Out! That focuses on plants in music "In this...

plant-in City

Added to the resources under PROJECTS...

Martin Roth – I grew corn for a plant concert

Added to the resources http://www.spring2018.soundthemound.com/resources-and-research Harvesting...

Poetics of (Outer) Space –  Caroline Devine

Just added to the resources page http://www.spring2018.soundthemound.com/resources-and-research...

Specimen Box — Sonification (2015)

Specimen Box is an exploratory visualization & sonification tool built for Microsoft's Digital...

Electrical Walks – Christina Kubisch (since 2004)

Since the end of the 1970s Christina Kubisch works with the system of electromagnetic induction,...

TON-RAUM TU BERLIN –  Bernhard Leitner (1984)

The «Sound-Space TU Berlin» is a permanent, sound installation located in the main building of the...

Music for a Quarry – Walter Fähndrich

In Music for a Quarry by Walter Fähndrich, clear tones call across the natural amphitheater of the...

Andrea Polli – Heat and the Heartbeat of the City (2004)

Heat and the Heartbeat of the City (launched on turbulence.org Dec. 1, 2004) is a web site that...

Mark Bain and Arno Brandhluber – BUG (2009)

The new building at Brunnenstraße 9 in Berlin’s Mitte district was recently hailed by Artforum...