Saturation

Saturation.

© 2011 Adam Laskowitz and Daniel Barry.

Saturation is an installation that highlights the abundance of wireless signals occupying the electromagnetic spectrum. The work indexes the FM radio spectrum to reveal the density of the invisible communications infrastructure saturating the environment and our bodies.

The work is installed in the form of an enormous chandelier; a set of open aluminum boxes housing FM radios are strung together and hung from the center of the ceiling. At rest, while concealed within their enclosures, the radio receivers output an ocean of static. Once exposed, the radios each connect to a different station, filling the space with a cacophony of noise. This process reveals a densely populated, dynamic array of electromagnetic fields that, while intangible, constantly permeate our bodies and environment.

The aluminum enclosures act as Faraday Cages, preventing the radios from receiving a signal. Each enclosure's aggregation and directionality is determined through the installation's spatial orientation to the source of the broadcast, disrupting the signal's reception, and creating a field of static noise. Because the body absorbs electromagnetic signals, the radios may connect to the signal when a human hand is within close proximity of the radio inside the enclosure. This engagement with the installation exposes a realization of the effects that bodies and wireless signals impose upon one another. While this experience remains confined to a single broadcast, the multitude of signals can be experienced through simultaneously releasing each of the radios with a single pulley actuation. This releases an eruption of sounds, which exposes the dense saturation of the environment and reveals the wonderment of experiencing the multiplicity of signal presence at any given moment.

Daniel Barry is a member of the media . architecture . computing program at the University at Buffalo (USA). In 2009, he graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor of science in architecture and continued at the University at Buffalo in the Department of Architecture and the Department of Media Study to pursue both a master of architecture and a master of fine arts. His research interests are focused on mobile computing technologies and how they negotiate social and spatial relationships. His work indexes mobile devices as prosthetic extensions of the body and their modification to extend our cognition of the complex invisible architectures of contemporary urban environments. His work has been internationally recognized through exhibitions and publications in France, Japan, and the United States. As the Fred Wallace Brunkow Fellow, he is the designer and editor of Intersight, the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning's annual journal of student work.

Adam Laskowitz is an artist, designer, and musician. He is currently a member of the media . architecture . computing program at the University at Buffalo (USA), pursuing a master of architecture and master of fine arts. He received a bachelor of science in architecture from the University at Buffalo in 2009. His current research focuses on the ways in which digital technologies can make mundane, everyday interactions with space surprising, entertaining, and exciting through a particular lens of sound production and consumption. His work deals with the interactions among people, places, and the objects that occupy space, focusing on the social and spatial implications of computing technologies. His work has been exhibited and published in Germany, France, Japan, and the United States. In the summer of 2012, he joined the Intel research labs in Portland, Oregon, where he is focusing on sensor networks and how complex datasets can be visualized for use by the public.

Saturation.

© 2011 Adam Laskowitz and Daniel Barry.

Saturation.

© 2011 Adam Laskowitz and Daniel Barry.