The Unstoppable Hum

Leonardo Gallery 259 Sabrina Raaf, The Unstoppable Hum, steel, rubber, aluminum, glass, custom electronics, 84 × 70 × 12 in, 1999. (© Sabrina Raaf. Photo: Tom Van Endye.) We perceive the hum of our industrial environment as inanimate background noise, while our life sounds animate space. This piece reverses these roles, showing us how a building environment perceives us. Contact microphones monitor inherent sounds from pipes and machinery, etc. in the gallery; a geophone listens to visitors’ footsteps while a video camera tracks their motions through the space. A microprocessor translates these inputs into digital signals that activate a biomorphic kinetic sculpture that blows air over waterfilled bottles of various sizes secreted therein, creating sensually dissonant tones. The environment’s hums activate the most animated tones, while the humans’ activity is translated into sounds of wheezing water bags and droning bass noises. (Sabrina Raaf, 1821 W. Hubbard Street #205, Chicago, IL 60622, U.S.A. E-mail: .) SABRINA RAAF: THE UNSTOPPABLE HUM ...