MAS(S)

MAS(S) is a collaborative sound art project exploring migration, refugees, war and loss through the human voice. For this project I built three machines to visualise different elements of a sound piece composed by Concrete.

With the Rotary Machine I wanted to create a device that would distort sound in a visual and inventive way. I decided to use a custom rotary speaker with arms that can be raised and lowered. The arms have small pick up coils on them that pick up the sound of the electromagnetic frequencies coming from the AC motor driving the rotary motion. This harmonically rich noise is then fed back into the speaker to distort whatever is playing through it. The idea is that there will be multiples of these devices in the gallery, each playing the sound of a choir. The arms will slowly raise and start to agitate and destroy the sound over time.

I built the Word Machine to trigger different words taken from interviews conducted by Concrete with Ukrainian artists about their account of the war. It consists of a spinning disc with two sensors slowly passing over it. A word is triggered every time a sensor passes over a pin. As the disc rotates more quickly and the sensors become more frantic, the words begin to deconstruct and become more granular and chaotic.

The Silent Siren was created for the finale of the sound piece. We envisaged a siren-like sound being broadcast outside the gallery and into the surrounding environment on speakers located throughout the city. This moment in the score required a cue so I created this ominous, spinning structure to visualise the sound. It spins in synchronisation with the cycle of the siren sound, which is made from a mass of human voices.

You can find out more about MAS(S) over at the Concrete webpage. These works are prototypes for a proposed touring exhibition we hope to take on the road in 2024.