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Ecomedia
How the Natural World is Transforming the Nature of Media.
This weblog is not the usual blog of daily events. It contains a series of notes/thoughts designed to make connections between science and media art.
Sometimes these ideas are tied in with current events, but most of the time this blog is not in any particular order. It serves as a central area for a detailed examination of ideas first published in a 1999 Leonardo Journal article entitled 'Active Vision' that I hope to develop into a book that will discuss some of the current developments in science, ecology, media and society and how they inform and are informed by new technologies. The book will be written for artists working with digital media and anyone who is interested in future directions of the medium.
http://www.andreapolli.com
last modified Sep 7, 2006 at 13:00
"Maps are a technology of power, and the key to internal power is cartographic process." (1989 Barnes & Gregory 1997, p. 164)
I've been working on a project recently called the NYSoundmap with the NYSAE http://fm.hunter.cuny.edu/nysae/ .
The short project proposal:
"We propose to create a sound map of the City of New York. In the initial phase, we will create a web-based tool for collecting, cataloging and disseminating a broad range of sound recordings, interviews and other data. Public submissions to this NYSoundmap will be collected through workshops, lectures and "soundwalks" throughout the five boroughs, providing source material for both an immersive aural and visual installation and an ongoing database of our urban soundscape."
Thinking about this project has gotten me thinking about how maps are instruments of political and social power. Most people think that a map is a factual representation of a location. However, this is not the case. The most common example in the literature is the Mercator map projection, the most common map projection of the globe (that is, a 2-dimensional representation of the earth). Flattening a sphere and maintaining accurate representations of the relationship between objects on the surface of the sphere is an impossible task. Every map projection contain distortions in size and shape. Unlike a sphere, a 2-dimensional surface has edges and a center, and the Mercator map has been seen by many as privileging the West by placing the western countries in the center of the 2-dimensional surface.
Political boundaries are of course also a part of many maps. The person or people who control the shape and position of those boundaries weild considerable political power, and the drawing of boundaries can create great conflict. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is one very dramatic example of this, but the controversy surrounding many of the redistricting efforts in the United States is another example. (see this list of Chicago Tribune articles for some examples from just one US state: http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting/reports/remanual/ilnews2.htm and this article from former Illinois congressman and 1980 presidential candidate John Anderson http://www.prairienet.org/icpr/news/Star092798.html) Even more contentious examples come from conflicts between governments and indigenous populations around the world. (the indigenous populations of Canada and Australia have been very involved in community mapping projects, for example)
Digital media has transformed maps and the map-making process. Highly detailed topographical data, satellite images, multi-layered 3-dimensional CAD architectural details including infrastrcture information like energy and water have all become available to the mapmakers. Maps have come to represent more than geography, and there have been wonderful project mapping the global internet network, mapping the organic structure of open source operating systems like linux and other software, and mapping the human genome.
Between about 1916 and the 1930s a series of giant acoustic mirrors were built on the south and northeast coasts of England. The mirrors were the forerunner of radar and are giant concave disks designed to listen for enemy airplanes.
Since these mirrors could only detect the sound of aircraft 8 to 15 miles away, an increase in the speed of air travel quickly made them obsolete. The concrete mirrors are still standing in various location in the UK. (see pictures here: http://www.castlekas.freeserve.co.uk/sound_mirrors.htm)
In addition to detecting sounds, the sound mirrors amplify sound and the city of Dover has instituted an residency project inviting sound artists to work with the mirrors and the community. Danish artist Lise Autogena will be building two new sound mirrors on either side of the English channel to allow people to communicate with eachother from across the sea, Lise Autogena's site is here: http://www.autogena.org/mirrors/
While standing on a listening platform, the mirrors will allow listeners to experience a holographic binaural sound image seemingly coming from the air and mixing with the sounds of the sea.
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