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Cycle 2008
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Titan et au-delà de l'infini 2007
On January 14,2005, after a 7 years and 3.2 billion kilometer trip, Huygens an automated spacecraft hit the surface of Titan, a moon orbiting around Saturn. After its descent, the drone sent a 2 minutes 30 seconds radio message. The sound file contained the data collected by the various scientific instruments. In fact these data are a log book, the history of a fall from a never visited before place.
Nowadays these data are available as computer files from the European Space Agency. Titan, and Beyond the Infinite uses these data, and scientific tools.
To produce the video I started by programming a software which organises the data and arranges them in charts. The title is a direct reference to a 2001 : Space Odysey scene, Jupiter, and Beyond the Infinite, also known as the Stargate Sequence. The scene was created by Douglas Trumbull. At the time, Trumbull was a graphic artist for the NASA. He adapted for cinema a technique named slit-scan and used before by photographers. Using long exposure time along with camera mouvement , the technique creates the illusion of movement. In my video, the Huygens data are parsed in a database and then organized into graphics. The data like the altitude and the speed of Huygens or the density of the atmosphere of Titan are analysed by my software creating images using the slit-scan technique.
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Aurore 2006
English Translation not available
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Spying the Electromagnetic Workforce 2006 2005
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Élegance - General Electric 2005
For the last few years, I've been using an early eighties model General Electric fridge called Élégance. The fridge occupies the sound space in my apartment, and several alterations have changed its acoustic properties over the years.
To explain phenomena captured by sensors in Save the Waves (2004-2005), I used the analogy of noise generated by fridges - those common household objects that start humming when their compressors decide to kick in. Indeed, electrical appliances oscillate at the same frequency as the system supplying their energy - 60 cycles a second (60Hz). Élégance - General Electric, circa 1982 employs the same sound techniques as recording studios. Invisible to the world, microphones are strategically positioned inside the fridge, which I subject to close, meticulous observation, its least vibrations captured and amplified a thousand times.
In The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World (1994), R. Murray Schafer explains that some studies have shown our ability to elide certain sounds from our audio environment; among them, the vibrations induced by our appliances' 60Hz frequencies. Ever since the "electric" revolution, all our urban environments have been humming to the tune of these appliances. Everything, from the lowly light bulb to towering generators, contributes to the complex harmonies of our audio landscape. Lately, as the city sleeps, I've been listening to my fridge.
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Photo-Synthèse 2004
Every 10 seconds, a microcontroller queries a photoelectric cell glued to the window of my Montreal studio. Generally speaking, the less light there is, the more the photoelectric cell resists. The value of the resistance varies according to the intensity of the surrounding light. The relative data are first determined by an analogue/digital decoder, then transmitted to a microcomputer. There they are stockpiled in a database and filed in chronological order.
1 figure = 1 pixel = 10 seconds – ((1 day = 1440 minutes) x 10 seconds) x 72 dpi = 44 inches
These figures are then analyzed and converted into pixels, at a rate of 8646 figures per day. The device thus works to create paintings out of sunlight. Digital technology works with surgical precision: the 12-bit analogue-digital converter that I use allows for 8192 shades of grey.
There is a macro-phenomenon at work here at an astral level: that of the earth’s rotation around the sun. On such a large scale, these phenomena become quite predictable. We are able to predict, even tens of thousands of years into the future, at what time the sun will set in any given spot. On my window, on the other hand, the luminosity is affected by a multitude of micro-variations: clouds, artificial lighting in urban areas, atmospheric pollution, etc.
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Save the Waves 2004 2005
Next to the Darling Foundry, a huge Hydro-Quebec transformer generates a 60-cycle-per-second hum, the official wavelength of the American power grid. This is the sound of electricity, the contemporary soundtrack of our domestic life. It will be captured by 4 VLF antennas placed in the old foundry.
For the VLF.Nvartual Radio project, I had to travel to remote places since VLF receivers are extremely sensitive to the electromagnetic fields created by power lines. The difficulty that I experienced in finding spots sufficiently isolated from the electrical system led me to experiment with VLF receivers within an urban environment.
4 antennas were installed in the former foundry to capture in real time the perturbations generated by the numerous electrical components nearby. A computer, acting as a simple digital console, would receive the signals from the 4 antennas. A second computer would send commands to the first, and cause the sound signals to oscillate through a software. This software would act as a tuner: it oscillated and circulated the sounds using a simple mathematical formula, that of a sinusoidal curve.
In order to amplify the signal, I constructed a huge octophonic sound system made up of 24 horn loudspeakers. Located at the centre of the foundry, these loudspeakers would broadcast the sounds of the magnetic field in all directions, modulating them in accordance to the wavelengths occasioned by the mathematical formula of the software.
Jérome Delgado - La Presse
Isa Tousignant - Hour
Julie Bouchard - Le Soleil
Jean-Pierre Aubé remercie André Théberge, Christian Bouchard, Mathias
Delplanque, Emmanuelle Léonard et Michel de Broin
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Nocturne 2004
2 horn loudspeakers (1200 watts), 1 subwoofer (800 watts), 2 computers, 3 schooldesks, micro-chip, 2 photocells, 8 LED, video projector
NOCTURNE – A PIECE FOR 2 PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS AND 8 LED
On the island of Ouessant, France’s westernmost point, the lighthouse of Créac’h protects passing ships against the treacherous Breton coastline. This lighthouse, one of the most powerful in the world, emits 2 light signals every 10 seconds. I began by making a video of the lighthouse at night, from which I derived a 10-second film loop. The light emitted from the lighthouse was then analysed by 2 photoelectric cells glued to a computer screen. When this light reached a certain degree of luminosity, the light sensors would send out a signal to a microcontroller, which would set in motion a series of events. Functioning as a digital console, the computer would receive the data from the microcontroller and create a sweeping sound in step with the rhythm of the lighthouse.
The system of horn loudspeakers was created specifically for Passerelle. The two main components were designed to optimize the directional effect of the sound, with the aid of a sound-compression system. The design of the subwoofer was inspired by an Electro-Voice model from the 1970s.
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V.L.F. 2000 2004
The Earth is surrounded by a powerful magnetic field known as the magnetosphere. Since the earth is not a stable system, the magnetosphere is influenced by numerous natural phenomena : lightning, northern lights, solar storms. When a lightning bolt strikes, for example, a powerful electrical signal dissipates through the air and oscillates the magnetic field of the earth. A VLF receiver acts like a radio ; it captures the variations of an electrical signal at a predetermined frequency. For very low frequencies, the receiver is tuned at the magnetosphere and therefore captures the perturbations created by natural phenomena. That is why we called these sounds Natural Radio.
Reflections on the anticipated disappearance of a natural phenomenon :
VLF frequencies are almost unclouded by man-made telecommunications transmissions. But as the digital and wireless technologies evolve, the use of these frequencies for communications is overriding the naturally produced waves of the northern lights and other climate-related signals. For example, Russian nuclear submarines and American military beacon use VLF frequencies to communicate. These man-made signals override the natural phenomena active on the low frequency spectrum. Eventually, VLF waves will be completely drowned out by the signals of various telecommunication systems.
Participated a this project since 2000
Mathias Deplanque aka LENA, Mathieu Marguerin de Mainsdoeuvres, The centre culturel Canadien à Paris, Quartier Éphémère,
André Théberge, The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec,EST-NORD-EST, Emmanuelle Léonard, Rikka Suomi from the Finnish Artits Studio Foundation Peter Ride from the Centre for Arts Research, Technology and Education CARTE.
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Sédimentation 1999
Montreal was founded at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the little St. Pierre Rivers. Today, the St. Pierre River had vanished through the urbanization and the sanitization of the city. With the help of an historic and sewer map of Old Montreal, I located different areas where the river used to flow. Equipped with an industrial pump and a container, I pumped 2800 litres of spoiled water from underground. Transported to Quartier Éphémère the water was forced through a filtration system. The purified water then fed an aquarium filled with 55 goldfish. Whenever the aquarium would fill to capacity, the water would overflow, falling through a drain in the centre of the gallery. This process lasted 5 weeks.
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Machine à récupérer le vent 1999
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autres 1999 2007
autres
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