This project comprises of two seashells that one can listen to. The first seashell synthesizes underwater ocean ambient sounds depending on the shell’s tilt. The second seashell streams several distorted radio channels.
It was my mum who told me that the seashells remember the ocean. With a childish response, I listened and listened to the hum of the moving water, crushing of the waves enclosed in this cavity. I wonder, what the shell would remember now, with the expansion of human environment, dooming overpopulation.
It was a month ago that I finally learned what the noise in the seashell actually is. Stripped of another myth that it is the sound of blood coursing through my body, I found out that the shell resonates the surrounding ambient sound. This renders a dimension that is more personal. How do I go from a quiet childhood, spent in the serenity of my imagination, to a world that wants me to react to every relationship problem, solve every economic crisis, mourn every coronavirus death.
So the two seashells contrapose each other in a fight for the imprint in the collective memory; and at the same time represent a progression, going outwards, from tranquility to overwhelm.
The ocean and bubble sounds are synthesized with the Teensy Audio library. Check out the project page for more details on the implementation.
The radio channels are accessed and mixed with the ESP8266Audio library. Check out the project page for more details on the implementation.
This project was done with great help from Matti Niinimäki and is a part of the Critical Making exhibition at the Aalto University.
