Nova Scotia Soundmap (45°14'38"N 63°31'35"W) is a sculpture that I created as a part of the inaugural exhibition at the SUB TEI Galerie in Berlin, Germany. The work consists of a 50cm x 50cm map of a Nova Scotia riverbank with 6-channel audio of the sounds that may be found in that same area. Together, the audio and visual create a 1:1 map of the site.
I visited the site in Nova Scotia at the beginning of June 2018. I photographed and measured the site, then explored it to find all of the potential sounds. To me, creating a 1:1 map feels like an act of exploration, probing for hidden secrets and details. It is also an act of destruction: after carefully documenting the undisturbed visuals of the site, I explored it with my ears and with my hands. I dug up rocks, felt through the mud, and pulled on grasses in order to find as many of the potential sounds of the site as possible. Though I replaced what material I could, the act of finding these sounds irreparably altered the site.
I made a sound sculpture for the SUB TEI Gallery as a part of the 2020 online 48h Neukölln festival in Berlin. All sound is from the river, which is filtered to pick out pairs of notes from the broad spectrum of the river's sounds. Larger splashes of water trigger a new note. The sculpture consists of a clay pot, contact mic, Bela running Pure Data, batteries, and a speaker. Recorded in Bowmanville Creek near Lake Ontario on June 19, 2020.
This sculpture is made up of four music boxes hidden along the forest paths in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Each box plays a short piece I composed based on the birds I could hear in the forest during my week in Nova Scotia. The boxes play at different speeds depending on how much light is shining on them at any moment, creating ever-changing relationships between them.
Placing the boxes in the forest was a magical experience. They felt alive as they would each stop, go, and change speeds as the light coming through the forest changed in strength and direction. They are surprisingly loud. I had expected them to only be audible to a careful listener, but they can be clearly heard from several meters away. As they began to play as I tied them in place, I could hear the birds that their music was based on all around me through the forest.
Frame was installed at the SUB TEI Galerie in Berlin, Germany as a part of the 48h Neukölln festival. It consists of several light sensitive drone oscillator circuits. Photoresistors shape the tone of the drone by modulating a filter and amplifier. It was originally designed as an installation that would gradually change sound according to the time of day and the weather, but visitors loved playing it in the evenings as an instrument using their hands to create shadows and their phones to create light.
Grove is a sculpture made up of five railway tie-sized posts stood on end, with strings running down the side of each one. In a strong, steady wind the strings act as Aeolian harps and create an soft, eerie, beautiful sound. When the wind shifts direction, new sets of strings are activated, creating new harmonies. Walking along the dykes was one of my favourite parts of living in Wolfville, and I was thrilled to be able to place a sculpture on them.