Re-Mediating Shapefiles: Listening to Lakes
In residency at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota, I used bathymetric outlines for Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes to inspire a sound performance and gallery installation. I was motivated by the increasingly-urgent long-term drought in the American West seen through the eyes of a region in which fresh water is abundant, but also in need of protection. While in residency, I collaborated with the University’s Spatial Innovation Lab and the “U-Spatial” community.
The Problem
Manipulate GIS shapefiles of Minnesota lake outlines into musical scores that I can play with an instrument called a waterphone.
The waterphone is loaded with water, eliciting resonating and reverberating tones when played with a bow or a mallet. Listen to a quick sample here: