Sounds that are too high or too low for the human ear do not cease to be sounds; they are simply waiting for us to learn how to hear them.
concept
The world is far more complex than we perceive—it is teeming with signals that we systematically ignore. To survive the information deluge, evolution has trained us to filter out irrelevant noise. But what do we lose by restricting ourselves to a narrow band of perception? The installation poses this question through sound—a medium acutely sensitive to the boundaries of audibility.
Just as we filter out hidden frequency layers in sound, humanity systematically fails to notice the early signals of ecological crisis. The world sends us countless signals, but they resonate on «frequencies» we have not learned to perceive.
The installation operates on several levels: as a scientific experiment revealing the physics of sound and as a philosophical tool prompting the viewer to re-examine their relationship with reality. When the viewer changes the frequency range and hears an «other» aspect of the sound, they learn to see complexity where they previously saw simplicity.
idea
In the space, generators are installed that create high-frequency or ultrasonic vibrations, which remain imperceptible to human hearing. These hidden signals are captured using sensitive microphones, including contact and ultrasonic sensors, which record the subtlest environmental vibrations. The resulting data is digitized and transferred into a digital environment, where it becomes material for further artistic transformation, revealing the invisible sonic fabric of the space.
Within a digital environment, such as Pure Data, the signal undergoes a series of transformations, during which its frequency characteristics are shifted into the audible range, subjected to spectral analysis, and converted into complex sound textures.
AI-generated conceptual video for the course.
The patch is a sequential signal transformation system that begins with an ultrasound capture module. At this stage, the incoming microphone signal is converted into an audible range, causing fluctuations that were initially imperceptible to become audibly distinct. Subsequently, the patch isolates a specific frequency band for further processing—it is filtered, amplified, and analyzed as the core sonic material. Based on this signal, a multilayered sound environment is constructed using various tools within Pure Data—generators, effects, and spatial processing.
Patch demonstration
«The Mute Flower» is playing!
