Disrupting tool performance through sound
Float (Keith Harrison, 2011)
sound installation Float aims to explore what happens when ceramics goes into sound field. Harrison focus the possibilities for a wider ranging sensory experience, especially through sound and clay. He learnt industrial Design in BA course and turned to Ceramics and Glass in his MA course, in recent years, he developed some large-scale projects involving sound and ceramics. He explained the reason for why he choose ceramic
“I am interested in the opportunities that clay offers in its different states; as a liquid, plastic and solid and, ultimately, the potential for the direct physical transformation of clay from a raw state utilising industrial and domestic electrical systems in a series of time-based public experiments.”(Harrison, 2011)
In this installation was piled up by twenty-six speakers covered by clay. In this way, sound and clay interactive each other when he play music. the sound were affected by the clay continually, was muffled even muted，while the clay in outside was influenced by sound wave, some of them were distorted and some appeared cracks. He also extended this theme by another project Mute (2015), which consisted of similar speaker with clay, but inviteded audience to chose record then play it. There is a comment from David Trigg “It’s an exciting, unpredictable piece that confounds our preconceptions about what ceramics should and can be. With his various projects and performances Harrison not only breaks all the rules but has thrown away the rule book all together, creating astonishing experimental pieces that sit a million miles away from the image of the proverbial potter at his wheel.”（Trigg, 2011）In Harrison’s installation, sound and clay as two weapons, brings an attack on the senses.
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Solid vibrations is a series of ceramic vessel which applied the sound waves in ceramic by a speaker and 3D printer, created by industrial designer Olivier van Herpt and sound designer Ricky van Broekvhen.
Their project solid vibrations aims making objects from sound waves. Oliver have taken two years to improve the 3D printer machine to made it print ordinary clay instead of the specific 3D materials. Ricky van Broekvhen put a speaker under the platform of 3D printer and play different vibration frequency during the process of printing. It makes the platform vibrate with the speaker when the print head pile up clay and finally created different detailed patterns depend different sound frequency.
Finally they transform acoustic sounds to a kind of energy, which shaped the clay into intricate fabric-like patterns. However, at this stage, they only use simple sound wave to create the pattern on the ceramic surface, they are planning to use more personalized and a richer sound to create art work such as a speech or a song. In the future, we might translate our favorite song to a series pattern and apply in a 3D printed object.
The difference between Keith and Olivier is they took sound as a different role.
There is an interaction of sound and clay in Keith’s installation, clay is not only influenced by speaker, but also played a role to change sound. This sensory experience has a great potential to interact with audience. However, Oliver’s project didn’t change the original sound wave, but took it as a tool to producing pattern, the effect of sound on clay was unilateral.