Axial (soundscape of the seafloor)

On august 2010, sound artist Hugo Solis and marine geophysicist Tim Crone were invited to spend 15 days at the oceanographic ship Thompson as part of the Ocean Observatory Initiative. This Initiative will construct a network of instruments, undersea cables, and instrumented moorings that spans the Western Hemisphere.

In this context, Hugo Solis and Tim Crone collaborated for realizing the first artistic sound recording ever made at a hydrothermal vent and probably at the deep sea floor. Hydrothermal vents are fissures in the planet's seafloor from which heated water issues.

In order to produce this recording, the team employed the custom fabricated recorder VentPhone created by the research team of Tim Crone. During the trip, the artist adapted the recorder for the artistic purposes of this work.

The recorder was then attached to a tripod with other oceanographic equipment and launched by free fall to the bottom of the sea near the axial volcano at fifteen hundred meters below the surface.

ROVs are Remotely Operated Vehicle employed commonly during oceanographic research. They are controlled remotely from a cabin located at the deck of the ship. These vehicles have videocameras, robotic arms, and a variety of sensors that allows artist and scientist to have access to the materials and unknowns of the seafloor. Jason was submerged into the sea by the team of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and waited for the recorder to arrive to the floor. Then, Jason grabbed the hydrophone and the recording session of the Medusa vent started.

Using the robotic arm controlled from the cabin at the ship, the microphone was moved back and forth from the chimney of the hydrothermal vent emulating the gestures of sound exploration employed regularly on our artistic daily live on earth.

The sound recording symbolizes a challenge, a communion between art and science, the poetry of technology, and the never satisfied sonic curiosity of sound artists.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• soundscape
• dxarts
• uw
• Hugo Solis
• submarines
• seafloor