A new interdisciplinary installation, Living Circuits: A System of Exchange, showcases a dynamic collaboration between the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Boyer College of Music and Dance and the Office of Sustainability.
Now through September 7 in the Tyler atrium at Temple University, Living Circuits invites members of the public to connect with nature in new and interesting ways.
Building on Sonic Drawings, the installation deepens the investigation of turning sound into an interactive experience. Focusing on plant subjects, Living Circuits utilizes a combination of sensors, metal touchpoints from Tyler’s Sculpture program, as well as PlantWave and POCKET SCÍON technology to turn plant energy into unique, individualized melodies.
Sensors are placed on the plant subjects to pick up their electrical signals. Those signals are then transferred to the PlantWave and POCKET SCÍON devices, converting them into sound. Metal sculptures, adjacent to each plant, act as conductors and connection points. By simultaneously touching a metal sculpture and a plant, visitors can connect to the plant’s circuit, altering the sound created by the synthesizers.
This technology is explored by Sandra James, senior systems administrator and adjunct faculty in Music Studies and Music Technology at the Boyer College of Music and Dance. During an earlier project, Plants and Processes, James used an INSTRUŌ SCÍON Eurorack module to connect with an aloe plant and produce music.
“When one performs with a plant, is it listening and modifying the signal that it sends to change the vibrations that it feels?” James said. “There is something to contemplate and experiment with here!”
In addition to the sound display, visitors can explore cyanotype images of mycelium, or the root-like structure of fungi, developed by Laurie Beck Peterson, adjunct faculty in Photography. Cyanotype images are produced by a chemical process in which an iron solution is applied to paper or film, dried, and then exposed to UV light. Peterson explores this analog process with an eye toward sustainability, utilizing plant-based developers grown in a hydroponic system and expired ortho-lith film.
Living Circuits also features a freestanding hydroponic garden that was originally created as a sustainable hydroponics display for the Charles Library by student leaders from Engineers for Climate Action with support from the Office of Sustainability Green Grant. With the help of Alejandro Sanoja, a zero-waste specialist with the Office of Sustainability, the hydroponic garden was adapted for this showcase to grow plants and contribute to the ambient sound garden produced by the POCKET SCÍON display.
Living Circuits was made possible by Erin Boyle, assistant director of Academic Enrichment, who coordinated across departments, developed and fabricated the installation design and who continues to seek interdisciplinary projects to engage students. The installation brings together a wide range of disciplines, including Sculpture, Glass, Photography, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music Studies, Music Technology, Engineering and the Temple University Office of Sustainability.
“The project exists to create a place where disciplines that do not always have a reason to work together can meet, experiment and build something none of us could have made alone,” Boyle said. “I wanted what we create to continue beyond the life of a single project, allowing its materials, knowledge and relationships to carry forward and become the beginning of something new.”
Living Circuits: A System of Exchange is available for viewing in the Tyler atrium space until Monday, September 7.