Nigel has recently been an Artist in Residence at The Marine Mammal Laboratory (Tropical Marine Science Institute) of the National University of Singapore; developing a project for ISEA2008 exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore, July ~ August 2008.

Interactive audio cartography, driving a 12.2 immersive speaker rig.

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Hydrophone location - Floating fish farm near Palau Ubin

Interface map

Catalogue Notes: The title is an ironic reference to the motto of submarine captains in WWII who knew that the silence of their craft was the key to remaining undetected. In contrast this artwork is a whole-hearted embrace of the richly sonic world deep within the ocean. The artist will be bringing this auditory world to the surface in an immersive surround-sound experience, which will be located within the gallery.

Prior to the exhibition, the artist will be creating an ‘audio portrait’ of Singapore harbour by recording underwater acoustics, running the gamut from sonar to whalesong. This library of sounds will then be ‘composed’ as a virtual cartographic environment which invites the visitor to navigate space and simultaneously create a dynamic 3 dimensional soundscape.

A (very) early morning reef-walk with a crew of Marine Biologists.

Narrow escape

This project employs the AudioNomad system to geo-spatially locate hydrophone recordings and other marine audio data, rendering this into a rich map-based composition that allows live ‘mixing’ in the form of Virtual marine journeys. AudioNomad is a collaborative Art + Science Research and development project between the artist (Sonic Objects: Sonic Architecture) and Dr Daniel Woo of the School of Computer Science and Engineering, at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

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For more information go to the ISEA08 website.