Sound & Science

Join us for a night exploring the intersection of sound and science! Join us for brief talks by current Manylabs residents and an audience show & tell...

Meet others working and playing at the intersection of sound and science across a diverse spectrum of interests. Please feel free to bring examples of your own projects!

Suggested $5-10 cash donations to support Manylabs will be accepted at the door for those that choose to contribute. No one will be turned away!

Manylabs resident talks:

Soundscape Ecology

How does an acoustic environment affect the physical and behavioral characteristics of organisms living within it? As our ecosystems change, how do natural soundscapes change and cause change? Karla Hargrave, soundscape ecologist, will present her very recent research from the Colombian Amazon.

Karla is helping to revitalize The Soundscape Support Team (http://soundscapesupportteam.ning.com/), a network-based initiative begun by Katherine & Bernie Krause to build support for the earth’s vital natural soundscapes. Through the lens of their work in the field of soundscape ecology, they hope to offer meet-ups, workshops, and presentations to benefit science, art, and education to engage and empower their diverse communities.

Sound Scanner Instruments

Bryan Day is an experimental musician, exhibit designer and electronic tinkerer based in Richmond in the SF Bay area. He has been building sound making machines since the late 1990s and performs in the Collision Stories and Euphotic ensembles. Day is the music curator at Canessa Gallery in North Beach and is currently a resident at Manylabs.

Bryan will discuss the development of his electromechanical musical instruments and will demonstrate his gestural linear CCD scanner instrument which converts physical images to sound one row of pixels at a time.

Water Organ

A new piece from resident artists Cere Davis, this kinetic sculpture plays an ambisonic musical composition as inductive forces transform floating resonant vessels into moving speakers.

Participants trigger a random process generating electronic tones into seven copper inductive coils placed under water. Magnets underneath floating vessels transform upcycled steel "tin" lids into audible speakers, each resonating with a unique timbral character while passing over copper inductive speaker coils. A seven toned ambisonic composition emerges from the minute vibration of each steel vessel floating above the water.

Cere is a science artist (http://ceredavis.com/) and artistic director for Counter Culture Labs (http://counterculturelabs.org/). She focuses on creative ways of bridging the rigid boundaries between the fields of science and art. Her art is currently focused on interactive moving sculpture exhibits that invite us to re-evaluate our connection with the natural world.