cloud-to-air (2008)

2008

steel trays, water, video projection, light, sound, vibration transducer, multi-channel audio

dimensions variable

kill your timid notion, dundee contemporary arts, dundee, scotland, uk

Cloud-to-air examines architectural acoustics through the lens of the embodied listening brought about by rain. The work challenges the changing attention span and pacing of everyday life in the context of a visceral, immersive, and disjointed experience of weather. The work consists of a single-channel video of raindrops on a roof projected from above onto 1-3 5’ by 8’ trays filled with a thin layer of water. The trays are outfitted with tactile transducers (a vibrating motor) on the underside whose oscillations cause patterns to appear in the water and small water droplets to break on the surface in counterpoint to the content of the video. Pure tones accompany the rain sound derived from acoustical measurements of the performance space. An algorithmically generated weather system controls the spatialization of dozens of recording of rain made by the artist over a single summer, creating an immersive experience.