This sound work is a composition of seismic data made audible. We have worked with several types of seismic data; earthquake, volcanic and glacial which form the different sections of the work.
The glacial data in the extract was collected by the Columbia Glacier Passive Seismic Experiment, Alaska. There are quite distinctive sounds which you can associate with familiar processes involved in glaciation.
The process of acquiring the data involves researching locations and events, finding good consistent data to work with and then using simple programming to make the seismic data audible. Seismic data already exists as a waveform in nature, we have processed this to bring it into the audible spectrum so that you are actually hear the movements of Earth's physical matter.
Commissioned for Not for Human Consumption
Semiconductor is UK artist duo Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt. Through moving image works they explore the material nature of our world, how we experience it and how we try to create an understanding of it, questioning our place in the physical universe.
For over a decade their unique approach has won them many awards, most recently; the inaugural 'Samsung Art + Prize' 2012 for new media, the 'Golden Gate Award for New Visions' at San Francisco International Film Festival USA 2012 and the 'Art and Science Award' at Ann Arbor Film Festival USA 2012.
In recent years works have developed from fellowship opportunities which have taken them into unique science laboratories to observe how man creates an understanding of the material world around us, these include; NASA Space Sciences Laboratory UC Berkeley California 2005, Mineral Sciences Laboratory, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History 2010 and the Charles Darwin Research Station, Galapagos 2010.
Works include; Black Rain, a moving image installation which uses satellite image data to observe the space between the Sun and the Earth, Indefatigable, a moving image work observing scientists at work on the Galapagos Islands and Magnetic Movie, a live action and CGI moving image work exploring the material nature of interplanetary magnetic fields at a NASA space sciences laboratory.
HD limited editions of Magnetic Movie and Brilliant Noise are part of the permanent collections of Hirshhorn Museum Washington DC, USA and the Pompidou Centre, Paris, France. Their work has been exhibited and screened globally including The Royal Academy London, Hirshhorn Museum Washington DC, Venice Biennale Italy, FACT Liverpool , CAC Cincinnati USA, Sundance Film Festival and Rotterdam International Film Festival.