Sonic Water is a cymatics installation by Sven Meyer and Kim Pörksen that demonstrates the visual effects of sound on water. 

About the project:

In the beginning there was sound. The reason cymatics exerts such a strong fascination is that we are not conditioned to “see sound”. Cymatics is like a magic tool that unveils the true substance of things audible, but conventionally invisible. With it one can recreate the archetypes of different forms of nature. So sound does have form and cymatics enables you to comprehend that it not only affects but causes form in matter. In fact, we think sound had a fundamental influence on the formation of the universe itself. But that is another story. Primarily, we are fascinated by the simplicity of this subject. All it takes is sound and a very basic medium such as water to create… well, what could be (and in our view is) the coolest sound visualizer.

Still photos don’t convey the project nearly as well as this video:

SONIC WATER from elfenmaschine on Vimeo.

Born of Sound transforms your recorded sound into art.

(Via Jad Abumrad)

Sakurako Shimizu’s waveform jewelry. The brooches represent (from top to bottom) “wow”,  a yawn and a sneeze. The wedding rings very appropriately include the waveforms for “I do”. However, I think my favorite piece is the necklace which represents the separate sounds of a giggle. 

Acoustic Botany by Keita Akiyama of the Denka Bijutsu collective.

In the project Akiyama imagines “What if there existed, someplace in this world, acoustic plants? Why would they make sounds? How would they make sounds? And what would they sound like?”.

Sound Architecture IV by Ronald van der Meijs is a different sort of “carol of the bells”. It’s made up of 5,000 bicycle bells installed to sway and interact like reeds. When the wind blows they brush together and make chiming sounds.

The Hear Heres by Studio Weave

Studio Weave on their project:

Set within the stunning parkland surrounding the Grade I Listed Kedleston Hall, the Hear Heres offer visitors an immersive and interactive experience that invites curiosity. In response to the competition brief, which called for new perspectives of the National Trust property, we have designed a series of four structures that play with sound and open up auditory vistas in the landscape. The Hear Heres encourage people to explore the landscape and expend energy, but at the same time offer spaces for moments of quiet reflection and soaking up the sounds and sights of this extraordinary setting.

Microsonic Landscapes by Realität 

About the project:

An algorithmic exploration of the music we love. Each album’s soundwave proposes a new spatial and unique journey by transforming sound into matter/space: the hidden into something visible.

It should come as no surprise that Einstürzende Neubauten would form the most erratic landscape. 

Ivy Noise by Daniela di Maro & Roberto Pugliese

About the project:

Electric wires climb the white walls, following not a casual pattern, but a defined one, after an accurate study of the growth of the ivy. Black lines design organic forms; brances form which unusual flowers blossom: conical speakers of various dimentions. A previously defined soundscape is given forth by some of these peculiar buds which acts as a background to the acoustic improvisation, determined instead by the human presence. Every noise is being captured by a series of microphones and random samples are taken in real time by a custom designed software, and rendered back through the speakers. Voices, steps, movements, nourish the installation. The totally synthetic sound, generated by this technological parasite creates however the illusion of being in a natural environment. A psychoacoustic journey, in which nothing stands still; everything is being transformed in an unstoppable and impromptu process of metamorphism. An experience which through multisensory stimulation creates a relation between man and technology, hypothesizing not only a peaceful coexistence of the two elements, but even an eco-sustainable hybridization, reinforced by the use of recycled materials.

This mixture of natural and manmade sounds can be heard in this video:

Bartholomäus Traubeck’s Years is a record player that plays slices of wood instead of vinyl. 

About the work:

A tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently.

You can hear a sample of the beautiful music that results in this video:

YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.

Protrude, Flow is an amazing interactive installation piece by Sachiko Kodama and his collaborator: Minako Takeno.

Kodama on his work:

In pursuing to create an interactive installation that moves our instinctual feelings, I created dynamic movements and organic shapes using black lustrous magnetic fluid. This fluid was placed in parts of the installation to express the desire and passion for life. Unlike machines, this installation reminds us of the energy pulsating in our own body. Obtaining flexibility and dynamism with any physical material is long sought after by humans and while artist create surreal pictures or moving images emulating these characteristics, they are imaginary. Protrude Flow is an interactive installation which expresses the flexibility and dynamics found in the physical make up of fluid. The fluid moves in synchronization with sound, controlled by a computer, so that it is able to transform into organic wild shapes and movements.

Using magnetic fluid, sound and moving images, the transformation of three-dimensional patterns is affected by the sounds of the spectators` voice in the exhibition space. Simultaneously its flowing movement and dynamic transformations are documented and projected onto a wide screen.

The black magnetic fluid is able to maintain its strong magnetic force, making it more flexibly transformable than iron sand. This allows the possibility to create complicated three-dimensional organic patterns which appear occasionally as pointed mountains or pliable organic shapes and sometimes as flowing particle streams. Interaction of environmental sound, created by the artist and the voices of the spectators, within the exhibition space stimulates the transformation of the magnetic fluid. These sounds are captured by microphones hanging from the ceiling which a computer then converts the sound amplitude into electromagnetic voltage, determining the strength of the magnetic field.

At the same time, the magnetic fluid evolves its three dimensional pattern and the spikes of fluid move accordingly since it is synchronized to the environmental sound.