Alvaro Cassinelli, Tobias Klein: Cymatic Ground – ACM SIGGRAPH HISTORY ARCHIVES

Alvaro Cassinelli, Tobias Klein: Cymatic Ground

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Artist Statement:


    Cymatic Ground is an interactive sound installation doubling as a model of a dynamic urban landscape. Its body, a metallic scaffold designed following the plans of an old neighborhood in Hong Kong, is covered by a fine layer of sand. This exposed skin morphs in response to the sounds and vibrations of the larger environment it is immersed in. In response to fortuitous pressures and occasional gentle beats from the public, Cymatic Ground produces audible moaning and earthquake-like shakings that displace the grains of sand, destroying or revealing transient geometric patterns and complex networks of canals analogous to avenues, streets and al- leys faithful to its original plans. On the other hand, when these external influences are not in tune to its fundamental mechanical resonances, its skin wrinkles and breaks apart, and its metallic body produces strident notes of despair as the installation searches for an appearance better attuned to the new reality it is immersed in. In an introspective and concerted effort, each plate – each neighborhood- continuously scans its own mechanical resonances, probing every part of its body with precisely tuned waves of energy, not unlike a city striving to reinvent itself in order to rekindle its appeal in response to global economic crisis, the effects of the climate change or the continuous displacement of its dwellers.