Of Schemes and Memes Blog

Science festivals – part 9: Biorhythm: Music and the Body #wsf11

Who wouldn’t want to turn their body and skin into a musical instrument, or to generate a personal dance tune? How about sitting in an oscillating chair which allows you to experience physically the power of sound or to create your very own personal surround synthetic cinema?

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These were just a few of the quirky activities on offer at Thursday’s Biorhythm: Music and the Body event at the World Science Festival, in an exhibition created by Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin and running until August 6th.

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Held at the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, an unassuming building off 21st street, on first glance the packed exhibition looked like any other ordinary show, yet on closer inspection, visitors were suddenly propelled into an exploding sensory banquet of interactive displays and immersive demonstrations.

The event offered an exclusive insight into the workings of sound, vibrations and rhythm, featuring an unusual mix of sensory engaging artwork aiming to provide fresh insights into a world we deem familiar. This exhibition certainly challenged convention, granting a rare opportunity for art and science to collide in a supernova of imaginative energy.

Displays presented potential answers to intriguing questions such as: why are minor chords melancholy; why do we enjoy dancing and tapping along to a tune; is there an algorithm for the ideal drum hit? So much was on offer, it was almost impossible to try everything, but we would like to share a few examples of the cutting-edge exhibits which opened up a whole universe of musical possibilities:

Optofonica Capsule

For an exhibit which looks like a blown up snail’s shell, the Optofonica Capsule, surprisingly, is an immersive audio visual edifice which, once inside, transports you into a musical world.

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Visually, it certainly captures the imagination, but when you step into the interior you are immediately immersed in a bizarre visual experience, where sounds resonate, delivering individually composed visuals to your eyes. Low frequencies are fed through the floor, converting sound into vibrations through your body – your very own surround-sound cinema experience.

Binaural head

To the ordinary eye this may look like a randomly positioned metal head, dangling from a white board, but this “binaural” head is much cleverer. We all know that our ears enable us to detect the direction of sound, allowing us to create a spatial awareness picture of the world around us. The aim of this binaural head exhibit was to shed new light on how our ears operate and how they map out a sound image.

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It works by placing the head remotely from the spectator; spatial sounds are then transmitted to earphones, allowing you to experience a remote spatial awareness.

Sonic Chair- something for the girl with everything

It is not unusual to see a chair in a gallery, but this 1920s chair, resting on an old fashioned carpet, did initially seem out of place amongst a trendy, bustling exhibit. On closer inspection, this was no run of the mill chair, but one full of sonic charges.

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This chair allows you to manipulate voltage controlled oscillators so that you can physically experience the power of sound and even better, adjust it to your personal taste.

The Sonic bed

A bed, in an exhibit? Surely not? But this was no ordinary bed. This sonic bed is not a bed for sleeping in, but one to lie in and closely explore your personal relationship with sound.

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Take a break from the lively exhibit and allow subwoofers to release intense intimate sonic soundscapes throughout the structure of the bed, enabling you to feel and hear the transmitted sounds, blurring the boundaries between the body and music.

Finally, if you want to relive your experience from this event, or if were unable to attend, check out this video that showcases just a few of the spectacular displays:

If you want to read more highlights from the World Science Festival, you can find a summary of all our coverage here.

Comments

  1. Report this comment

    Dov Henis said:

    Biorythm, Music And The Body

     

    A. Biorythm, music and the body

    https://www.eyebeam.org/events/biorhythm-music-and-the-body

     

    B. https://sciencenewsmagazine.org/view/generic/id/63645/title/Letters

    Sep. 26, 2010

    On Touch And Hear Senses

    (pulse.yahoo.com)

    Why Music Touches-Moves Us

    (Nov 11, 2005 DH,biologicalEvolution forum)

    Music is a human cultural-artifactual elaboration of creatures’ vocal communication which is an extension-elaboration of >24 wks-old in-womb fetus’ and of newborns’ intimate safe/coddle/sooth experiences. Both ‘touch’ and ‘hear’ senses are founded on mechanical sensing processes involving in-cell ions leakage forming electrical action potentials interpreted neurologically.

    I suggest/conjecture that the same neurological constellation may be handling both ‘touch’ and ‘hear’ senses, being of commom mechanisms and differing essentially only in switch-on modes, and that this evolves in all vocal creatures in conjunction with in-womb safety, followed with baby codling/handling and vocal soothing/communicating, and later also with intimate emotional implications. Hence music has ‘engulfing-touching-emotional’ connotation and personal music orientation has also childhood-ethnic rootings.

    Dov Henis

    (Comments From 22nd Century)

  2. Report this comment

    Laura Wheeler said:

    Thanks Dov for your insight.  There was also a great video at this event which was difficult to capture in a picture which showed a man with a musical instrument attached to his stomach, wrapped around him like an extension to his body.  It was as though the musical instrument was part of him.  I think the whole idea of this event was to explore the importance of human interaction with music, learning new things about the simplest of musical concepts, to the downright peculiar. 

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