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Students: Daniel Barry, Adam Laskowitz
Independent Research Project


Abstract:

As new wireless communications are developed daily, our personal electronic devices allow us to focus our attention on a particular bandwidth of the electromagnetic spectrum and perceive its saturation of the air around us. While general practice often focuses on a singular bandwidth, millions of electromagnetic frequencies saturate the environment and consequently our bodies. This installation indexes the physical attributes of FM radio broadcasts, however is positioned within a larger framework of wireless network abundance in the continued growth of an invisible infrastructure. The installation is constructed as a sort of enormous chandelier, a set of open aluminum boxes strung together from the center of the ceiling that 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 EMFs are absorbed by the body, the radio may connect to the signal by placing one’s hand within close proximity of the radio while remaining inside the enclosure. This engagement with the installation exposes a realization of the affects 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 simultaneously with each of the radios being exposed in a single pulley actuation. With this, the dense saturation of the environment is exposed through an eruption of sound, revealing the wonderment of experiencing the multiplicity of signal presence at any given moment.

Saturation was exhibited at at the Los Angeles Convention Center from August 5-9th as a part of the SIGGRAPH 2012 Art Gallery. As exhibiting artists in the conference, the project was additionally published in Leonardo Journal Volume 45, Issue 4, 2012. For more information, please visit the official SIGGRAPH website.

Daniel Barry and Adam Laskowitz presented their research project Saturation at the Critical Themes in Media Studies Student Conference hosted by The New School in New York City on April 13th and 14th. They participated in a panel discussion with multidisciplinary students from various universities throughout the country.