nokami

Greyfields/Wavefields - project summary

‘greyfields’ is an ongoing audio-visual project investigating the psychogeography of commercial environments.

This latest iteration focuses on capturing - via specially-constructed induction microphones - the electro-magnetic spectra emitted by the informational, security, communication and power infrastructures which pervade the urban grid.

The visual aspect approaches the video image in its raw, base form - as a standing wave pattern of electrical energy, the transduction of light into electrical impulses being more akin to the electromagnetic apparatus of the microphone than the mechanical/chemical process of traditional film or photography.

‘greyfields/wavefields’ seeks to render that which is invisible, inaudible, hidden yet omnipresent, into something which can be contemplated. We are aware of these systems which infuse the physical structures of our metropolis, yet their ephemerality leads us to disregard the vastness, power (and related health implications) of their existence.
They are, in many respects, a kind of urban ghost, clustering in and haunting our centres of financial and political dominance. As such, ‘greyfields/wavefields’ can be seen as a continuation/extension of the parapsychological investigations of EVP (’electronic voice phenomenon’ - the search for spirit communications via radio waves and the recording of silent spaces) - an investigation of what lies concealed in the ether.

Wavefields

‘greyfields’ is an ongoing audio-visual project investigating the psychogeography of commercial environments.

This latest iteration focuses on capturing - via specially-constructed induction microphones - the electro-magnetic spectra emitted by the informational, security, communication and power infrastructures which pervade the urban grid.

The visual aspect approaches the video image in its raw, base form - as a standing wave pattern of electrical energy, the transduction of light into electrical impulses being more akin to the electromagnetic apparatus of the microphone than the mechanical/chemical process of traditional film or photography.

‘greyfields/wavefields’ seeks to render that which is invisible, inaudible, hidden yet omnipresent, into something which can be contemplated. We are aware of these systems which infuse the physical structures of our metropolis, yet their ephemerality leads us to disregard the vastness, power (and related health implications) of their existence.
They are, in many respects, a kind of urban ghost, clustering in and haunting our centres of financial and political dominance. As such, ‘greyfields/wavefields’ can be seen as a continuation/extension of the parapsychological investigations of EVP (’electronic voice phenomenon’ - the search for spirit communications via radio waves and the recording of silent spaces) - an investigation of what lies concealed in the ether.

Music:

Michael TrommerMichael Trommer is a Toronto based producer and visual artist who has recorded for such top electronic music labels as Transmat, Wave, Truffle, Stasisfield, Interchill, Monocromatica, Thinner and con-v. He records under his own name, as well as aliases such as ’sans soleil’, ‘minidisco’, ‘Hydraulic’,and ‘Manitou2′.

Broad-minded in his approach to electronic music, Michael also creates gallery-based audio installation work. 2005 saw him creating a site-specific sound installation for Australia’s ‘Liquid Architecture’ exhibition. Another of his recent works was a net-based audio-manipulation project which was part of the ‘from 0 to 1 and back again’ exhibition at Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt; this became the subject of many radio specials on both Deutsche Welle and Hessischer Rundfunk. In 2000, his work was nominated for the Prix Italia for experimental music. His field-recording based material has been featured on London’s Resonance FM, www.vagueterrain.net, www.insine.net, www.monocromatica.com, and www.stasisfield.com. A site-specific field-recording based installation is being exhibited in New York state’s upper Catskill forest (www.restlessculture.net/deepwoods) from the end of May.

Contact:
trommer@sympatico.ca
http://www.myspace.com/mtrommer

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Bioluminescence is simply light produced by a chemical reaction which originates in an organism.

It can be expected anytime and in any region or depth in the sea. Its most common occurrence to the sailor is in the often brilliantly luminescent bow wave or wake of a surface ship. In these instances the causal organisms are almost always dinoflagellates, single-cell algae, often numbering many hundreds per liter.

They are mechanically excited to produce light by the ship’s passage or even by the movement of porpoises and smaller fish.

Bioluminescence is a primarily marine phenomenon. It is the predominant source of light in the largest fraction of the habitable volume of the earth, the deep ocean . In contrast, bioluminescence is essentially absent (with a few exceptions) in fresh water, even in Lake Baikal. On land it is most commonly seen as glowing fungus on wood (called foxfire), or in the few families of luminous insects. (For firefly information, try here.)

Bioluminescence has evolved many times in the sea as evidenced by the several distinct chemical mechanisms by which light is emitted and the large number of only distantly related taxonomic groups that have many bioluminescent members.

Bioluminescent bacteria occur nearly everywhere, and probably most spectacularly as the rare “milky sea” phenomenon, particularly in the Indian Ocean where mariners report steaming for hours through a sea glowing with a soft white light as far as the eye can see.

One special family of deep-sea fishes carries around its own “night vision” ability.

Almost all marine bioluminescence is blue in color, for two related reasons.

First, blue-green light (wavelength around 470 nm) transmits furthest in water. The reason that underwater photos usually look blue is because red light is quickly absorbed as you descend.

The second reason for bioluminescence to be blue is that most organisms are sensitive only to blue light — they lack the visual pigments which can absorb longer (yellow, red) or shorter (indigo, ultraviolet) wavelengths.

http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/
http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/organism/dragon.html