A flashlight driven interactive installation.
Media Design, Interactive Design, Lead-Artist
Presented with Chloe Cobb, Savannah Moore, Mikey Rioux
About
Cymatic Worlds created an instrument from an old museum’s sizable sunken sculpture garden. It presented a beautiful space to explore, with pockets of soothing music that would integrate perfectly with a given landscape. The user/audience flashlights would trigger certain parts of a musical riff that would change in instrument font upon activating a different world. What does a particular melody sound like in the ocean, forest, desert, or space? Particular points in the space would trigger parts of the musical riff. These could be experienced alone, or in tandem with other people in the space.
Before entering, each participant was given an oracle reading about one of the four sound landscapes. This primed the user into introspection and quiet before they descended into the darkness to explore. Users were liberated to change the world by arcing their flashlights over symbols on the wall, which gave the effect of teleporting sonically, and visually, to different environments.
This piece explored the idea of sonic fingerprints within our ecologies—how every place on Earth carries the same vibrations, but at slightly different frequencies. The audience, acting as agents who activated elements of the overall composition, transformed the experience into a kind of treasure hunt for rhythm, bass, melody, and harmony. This interactivity with the cymatic environment created an introspective space—peaceful, immersive, and intentionally evocative of our individual connection to the ecosystems we inhabit.
Audience Instructions
Take a breath. Be present with you place in the universe.
Hold your torch in both hands, perpendicular to the floor to light your way.
Walk slowly around the space, finding where you belong within the world cymatic sounds. Collaborate with your fellow world builders to create a sound landscape.
If you desire a change of scenery, quickly arc your torch over the cymatic symbols on the wall to the right of the entrance.
The same soundscape is present in all worlds with different vibrations — open yourself to ideas that transport you to new states of mind.
Spend as much time in the space as you desire, and when you are ready, leave the way you came.
WORLD EMBLEMS
SØREN OLSEN 