Network Dynamics in Sustainable: a robotic sound installation

Birchfield, David, Phillips, Kelly, Lorig, David

2005

Organised Sound 10(3): 267-274.

Language: English

The network serves as a conceptual, metaphorical, practical and musical force that drives Sustainable, a dynamic robotic sound installation. The piece is comprised of seven autonomous water gong nodes that are networked together by water tubes to distribute water throughout the system. A water resource allocation algorithm guides this distribution process and produces an ever-evolving sonic and visual texture. A simple set of behaviours govern the individual gongs, and the system as a whole exhibits emergent properties that yield local and large-scale forms in sound and light that are visually and musically compelling.