The Sonic Contamination Workshop, created and led by Laura Selby and hosted at Omved Gardens, explored ideas of sonic bridging between the more-than-human and human. Participants are guided through different individual and collective exercises exploring deep listening and field recording, forming a sonic-web of relationship between participants and acoustic ecologies. From the material produced during the workshop, Selby produced an interactive installation co-created by humans, more-than-humans, and AI, using chromatographic traces of soil samples collected by participants from their chosen listening locations, which displayed the unseen micro-worlds for each ‘time species’ [chosen listening location] The soil sample once broken down in Sodium Hydroxide solution, samples are absorbed into the filter paper and then into the textile to create large prints infused with a diluted silver nitrate solution. The outcome is a visual breakdown of the chemical structure within the sample, with the arrays of colours, forms and structures within the trace (chromatography) left behind.
To expand on the listening exercises from the workshop, the installation invites the audience to listen to the field recordings from the workshop in a series of listening stations, as well as to interact with a sonic data set model. The model is trained using Google Colab of the RAVE algorithm on the sonic data collected. Data sets are grouped in species and time scale characteristics and subsequently create a trained sonic-temporal model from the listening surveys carried out. The audience is invited to interact with a more-than-human sonic model to co-create sonic ecologies, through listening to the current version (trained iteration) and using their own voice to trigger and process the current model.
Laura Selby is a sound artist, and experience producer from Croydon. Fascinated in revealing the hidden perspectives and narratives of organisms through sonification, from mycelium, moss, concrete to microbe. Her crafted workshops aim to engage communities and expand personal and communal perspectives by sharing in research-led encounters and discussion. These have led to outcomes such as her extended-listening workshops based in Epping Forest and mushroom community garden designing with The South London Mushroom Club and The South London Urban Growers.
Sonic Contamination Workshop Video, 📽️ Sung Hoon Song
Sonic Contamination Workshop
OmVed Gardens
Developing Soil Samples
Chromatography Print Making
RCA Graduate Show
MA Curating Contemporary Art