FLOAT | Locative sound installation
by Tuomo Tammenpää and Tamas Szakal


 
In FLOAT, the ship is the play-head and the route is the track. Depth, direction, speed and surrounding islands build the score of the sound installation. The ship plays the track as it moves across the Baltic Sea.



(download med-res: interface1 , interface2)
(download mp3 sample: float_1.mp3 5mb)

 

The sea, especially the deep unknown, holds its mysterious nature in the era of extreme traveling. There is a fascination for the dimensions of waterbodies and the secrets it possesses. The power of a storm, the long horizon and the incomprehensible raises respect among most of us.

On the surface, there are shapes of islands and the coastline, drawn on the sea. The multitude of ship routes and passages that connect countries and cities together weave a vast invisible network of paths. Crossing the various locations, the voyage, provides a lots of information, which can't be seen or heard.

Taking a ferry on the Baltic Sea is usually just transportation or entertainment on board. In both cases, the sea itself is insignificant. This sound installation makes some of the invisible dimensions and the silent layers of data, audible. The ferry travels through a map moving high above the bottom of the sea floor, sometimes shallow, sometimes deep. The passage in time generates various data. All these data streams: the GPS coordinates, distance to islands, depth, direction and speed are translated to sounds. The result is a slowly developing soundscape that invites the traveler to listen to the place in time.



  (download hi-res: listeners.jpg)
 



  FLOAT
by Tuomo Tammenpää and Tamas Szakal

  Exhibition history

15/08 - 17/08/2004 ISEA2004
03/12 - 13/12/2004 Pixxelpoint, Nova Gorica

  In the press

18/08/2004 Helsingin Sanomat


 
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