sound tossing: audio devices in the context of …...street art opens a new, broad research field in...

SOUND TOSSING:Audio Devices in the Context of Street Art

Reinhard GupfingerKunstuniversität Linz

Interface CultureKollegiumgasse 24010 Linz, Austria

[email protected]

Martin KaltenbrunnerKunstuniversität LinzInterface Culture Lab

Kollegiumgasse 24010 Linz, Austria

[email protected]

ABSTRACTStreet art opens a new, broad research field in the context ofurban communication and sound aesthetics in public space.The primary focus of this article is the relevance and effectsof using sound technologies and audio devices to shape urbanlandscape and soundscape.This paper examines the process of developing an alternativetype of street art that uses sound as its medium. It representsmultiple audio device prototypes, which encourage newchances for street artists and activists to contribute theirmessages and signs in public spaces. Furthermore, itdocuments different approaches to establishing this alternativeurban practice within the street art and new media art field.The findings also expose a research space for sound andtechnical interventions in the context of street art.

KeywordsSOUND TOSSING, audio devices, street art, soundinterventions, urban sound

1. INTRODUCTIONA new phenomenon of recent years is street art created by theuse of electronic devices and digital media. Thesedevelopments appear to be an adequate means of increasingcritical thinking and encouraging discussion of public spaceand its problems. Activists from different disciplines aretransforming urban environments into a lively scene,constantly developing new forms of expression withtechnological interventions.This paper and the practical project provide a furthercontribution to electronic street art, with particular interestgiven to the use of sound as a medium in this area. Differentprototypes for these practices and their concept applicationsare presented. Based on the performed actions, exhibitions,workshops, and the feedback we received, we discuss theopportunities and problems arising from the application ofSound Tossing. Furthermore, we answer the question of howthis is of interest to the public, street artists, media artists, andurban thinkers.

2. THE CITY AS INTERFACEIn connection with the project presented here, the city can beviewed as an interface. Within the context of city research, theterm interface describes how individual citizens in collectiverhythms and practices, with their urban environment instill orchanging it. According to Manuel Castell, cities have alwaysbeen an interface between individual and collective identitiesand shared social representations. The city operates as aninterface as collective practices and values are embeddedphysically in the city and its social context. If this existingand well-established practice and structure is modified byinteractions, it also changes the city. [1] All urban experiencesrequire interpretations, reactions and impulses to be translatedinto a variety of interactions. City Human Interaction (CHI) isbased on how humans interact with questions in the city, andraises questions as to how artistic strategies circumventlimitations in urban space, and open up methods of rethinkingthe concept of urban space. [2] The city as experimental andfield research is of increasing interest for artists. They areleaving their protected institutions, proving their concepts inpublic space and confronting a broad audience. As a physicalinterface, the city provides a built infrastructure andestablished ways of using it creatively. [3] New media haschanged urban areas, and in spite of some negative effectssuch as light pollution or electrosmog, there still is greatpotential in their creative application and use ascommunication channels to establish a new urban public.

3. RELATED WORKSOf particular relevance and interest in this study is the directand creative use of electronic equipment for the developmentof new street art techniques. Technical devices and theirsystems can shift from being tools for reproduction to creativetools and aesthetic design elements of the works. This is donethrough the direct use of electronic devices and componentsor the use of the visual characteristics of these technologies asa source material for artwork. New protagonist from the newmedia art scene joined the field of street art and implementtheir knowledge and concepts in urban space. Startingresearch on interventions with electronic equipment,components and projections in the context of street art in thecity, we quickly come to the Graffiti Research Lab, or GRLfor short. Evan Roth and James Powderly founded the GRLduring a research fellowship at Eyebeam in 2005. T h epurpose of the project was to rethink how people make and

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personalor classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made ordistributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this noticeand the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post onservers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.NIME’14, June 30 – July 03, 2014, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.Copyright remains with the author(s).

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

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look at graffiti and street art, not only by making things, butby developing tools that graffiti writers could potentially use.1

They experimented with various technologies for recapturingpublic space, put many of their new methods of self-expression into practice in cities all around the world anddocumented these activities with short videos. As part of theopen-source movement, they followed the philosophy of ideasharing and made their developments, documentation anddetailed building instructions available for free on the GRLwebsite as well as various DIY platforms. With the aim ofaddressing a broad audience and removing the negativeconnotations of street art, the GRL projects are often easilyand cheaply recreated and are generally not considered to bevandalism. The projects range from complex computerprograms for analyzing graffiti tags to a variety of digital andmobile projection techniques such as Laser Tag or the famousLED-based art project known as LED Throwies.For the project Urban Parasites, Vincent Van Uffelendeveloped several prototypes for electronic street art. VanUffelen references the content of the GRL LED Throwieproject, and pursues similar goals. Urban Parasites aimsmainly at the critical exploration of technology used in urbanspace by making use of artistic methods to revealinconsistencies and/or alternative uses for the ubiquitoustechnological devices surrounding us.2 A particularlyinteresting approach Van Uffelen pursued was the use andmodulation of radio waves. His concept for the RadioModulator Parasite provided the following functions: thereceiving of radio waves, the modulation of these waves bymeans of audio filters, and the sending of these wavesmodulated by a transmitter.

Benjamin Gaulon is also known as Recyclism – his work theLight to Sound Device, or L.S.D. for short, uses light as astimulus for sound generators. Gaulon reclaims LED displaysand neon signs that increasingly shape our present day. L.S.D.feeds on light via two light sensitive resistors mounted on asuction cup, allowing the sensors to be mounted on any screensurface. An analog synthesizer converts the light input intosound waves. This device can be used in many differentconfigurations, and can feed from any light source. Even ifL.S.D. can be controlled by any light source, its design isaimed at screen reading/listening.3

In 2011 the British artist Mr. Underwood was invited todevelop Sonic Graffiti for a project in Birmingham. The eightdevices included various interactive sound generators thatcould be played by users. By pushing a button or bysimultaneously touching two metal contacts, the audio playerswere activated. Mr. Underwood has installed equipment incracks in walls and other objects in public spaces. Theplayback of the sounds either came from installed speakers orby headphones brought by the visitors. In addition, Mr.Underwood identified his Sonic Graffiti units with markers inthe form of small round buttons.

The project Audio Bombing: Magnetic Cassette Tape Graffitiwas developed in 2007 by students Mike Flemming, KangChang and Kyle Millns from the University of Illinois. Thegroup used the already successful random access methodwork by Nam June Paik from 1963, where one audiotape is

1http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/arts.html 26.07.20122 http://vincentvanuffelen.com/urbanparasites/ 26.07.20123 http://www.recyclism.com/lsd_sonicgraffiti.php 26.07.2012

stuck to a wall and then painted over, and can playindividually with modified head tape recordings. In thecontext of street art, the use of cassette tapes as a medium isparticularly attractive and interesting due to its long traditionin hip-hop culture. In reading an audio bomb tag, the reader isput in the same position as a traditional graffiti writer insteadof being a traditional (i.e. passive) audience. The reader needsto actively engage with the content to receive the content ofthe tag. [4]

4. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONSThe development of mobile audio units for urbaninterventions and their contextualizing with street art andopen design technology will require fundamental designconsiderations. The general guidelines for the implementationof the different prototypes are discussed below.

4.1 Sculptural LayerThe visual design of the audio units follows the visual codesof Shoe Tossing. This means a visual approach to thetraditional practices in the context of street art and includescertain brand recognition in the public domain. The ShoeTossing objects, two shoes whose shoelaces have been tiedtogether, are also templates for Sound Tossing audio unitsmainly because of its practical application as missiles. Thetransformation of the visual codes of Shoe Tossing ontoSound Tossing appears as two boxes that are connected by acable. This form allows and encourages hooking up andtwisting the audio units on overhead wires, trees, sculpturesand other objects in urban areas. In order to illustrate on avisual level that it is a sound object, the audio units areprimarily built by using small speaker cases.

4.2 Outdoor DevicesThe audio units are designed to be thrown or hung on streetfurniture in public spaces. It’s possible that a device misses itstarget and falls to the ground. To avoid the audio unit beingbroken after just one impact, the most rugged yet lightweighthousing is used during assembly. In outdoor space, thedevices are also subject to environmental factors such as windand rain. To maintain a long lifetime, the electroniccomponents of the audio units are made to be water resistant.Another important aspect to be considered is how to routepower to the devices in public spaces. The use of batteriesproved to be unsatisfactory due to their short lifespan andenvironmental impact. As the energy produced by solar cell isnot enough to power the audio unit at night, a combination ofsolar cells and storage batteries were used. Anotherconsideration was the use of the existing city power supply bytapping into the lines or by induction in a coil, but thisalternative was not further investigated.

4.3 Sound DiversitySound Tossing works primarily with sound as an artisticmedium. The various audio units covered support manyacoustic modes of expression for interventions in publicspace. For example, voice messages or sounds are recorded,electronic circuits generate sounds, or non-audiblefrequencies are transformed into the audible range. The audiounits are designed for subtle intervention in urban areas. Thesound is meant to lead to the discovery of the devices andshould not be primarily perceived as a nuisance. Compared tothe perceived sound, the visual appearance of the audio unitsremains in the background. Public sound art, as an unusualelement in the environment, must be particularly sensitive to


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both noise levels and qualities of sound to avoid becoming asource of distraction or annoyance for the public. [5]

4.4 Open DesignThe project uses an open design strategy and provides easyaccess to technology and procedures. The audio units can bebuilt with a few simple electronic components. To keep thecost of the individual devices as low as possible, a large partof the necessary electronic components on all the modules canbe removed from old electronic equipment. Basically, all theparts and materials used are inexpensive and easy to get. Theproposed audio units can be adapted to individual needs byrelatively simple modifications and extensions. Byexperimenting with different components and their sizes,good results can be achieved. The controls of each audio unitare very simple, and have been reduced to the essentials. Thisallows for the simple and intuitive use of the devices. SoundTossing was developed as an open design project with thegoal of easing the entrance requirements to working withaudio electronics and to reach as large an audience aspossible. This procedure became a competitive advantage inthe distribution of this alternative type of street art andmotivated participants around the world. The disadvantage ofthis approach is that there is only limited influence on theartistic work, which is carried out by others.

Figure 1. Building instruction for Urban Cricket

5. PROTOTYPESThe development and testing process of several prototypes forsound interventions, in the context of street art, took placeover a period of two years. The experimental work was doneunder different conditions: in the studio, in public space, inmediation work in workshops, and as part of activeparticipation in media arts festivals. The developed prototypescan be divided roughly into three different groups of devices.

5.1 Sampler DevicesThe Sampler Devices, a group of mobile audio units, can bedescribed as tools that integrate customize messages andnoises in the public sphere. With these units, any type ofaudio sound can be recorded and played. The units can beequipped with different sensors or a timer, or a combinationthereof, to play back the sounds, directed toward targets andplan the timing. The addition of individual sound messages tothe dynamic city interface means a more proactive approachto the urban environment. The aim is to make it a personalissue to the public through subtle interventions and messages.

5.2 Sniffer DevicesThe Sniffer Devices transforms inaudible frequencies into theaudible range perceptible to the human ear. With the help ofthese audio units electromagnetic and ultrasonic waves can bedetected and played back in urban space. An interestingaspect of this is to make audible the various urban frequenciesthat are normally not heard everyday life. The Sniffer Devicesexpand our field of perception, generating sounds and linkingus with hidden frequencies that pulsate to the rhythm of thecity. The prototypes of the Sniffer Devices can be divided intotwo groups. One group is used to detect electromagneticfrequencies, and the other ultrasound. The Sniffer Device withbat detector module can be used to detect mosquito devices,which are designed to keep young people away by usingextremely high frequencies. The Sniffer Device spots themosquito devices. It transforms the high frequencies of themosquito devices into audible frequencies. It therefore makesan acoustic attack by these mosquito devices on young peopleinto an attack on all. This intervention is a call to end thistargeted act of “shooting with sound”.

5.3 Urban CricketsThe Urban Crickets are small, solar-powered soundgenerators made from simple electronic circuits. They arevery easy to make, and are long lasting. These prototypesmeet most of the design considerations, which apply to abroader application for sound interventions in the context ofstreet art. Followed by intense experimentation with differentcircuits and components, the sound more and more imitated alively cricket. The development and distribution of thedifferent prototypes of the Urban Cricket has been promotedthrough various activities such as illegal street art campaigns,organization of workshops and active participation in mediaart festivals. The sound of crickets has many positiveconnotations. This makes the Urban Cricket device aninteresting tool for interventions in urban space and attemptsto set free positive feelings in those passing by. At the sametime, they should cause some irritation because the UrbanCrickets are located in urban areas, a place where you rarelyhear crickets.

Figure 2. Urban Cricket

6. Field WorkThe Urban Crickets can be used to carry out subtle andsometimes provocative sound interventions in urban spaces.The degree of irritation depends on the location and themethod used for intervention. The basic idea is an invasion ofartificial crickets as subtle signs of recapturing the acousticspace of the cities. Urban Crickets are a change in the


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auditory environment that reinforces the perception of oureveryday life.

The use of the Urban Crickets in public spaces has beengoing on since November 2010, primarily through illegalinterventions in public space in which the devices are eitherthrown or hung with a long pole onto overhead power lines,trees and other street fixtures. Depending on the location andthe time of execution, and of course the number of activeparticipants, Sound Tossing action can grow into a kind ofperformance with many viewers.

The decision about where the Urban Crickets were placed inurban areas was based on several considerations. To positionthe practice of Sound Tossing not only conceptually but alsospatially within the context of street art, the actions tookplaces in areas where there is a high density of street art.

Figure 3. Urban Cricket (middle), London 2011

Another aspect was to position the Urban Crickets in placeswith extremely high audience-density. In this case, touristareas, buildings, squares and streets of inner cities appeared tobe particularly attractive. In these zones, the misappropriationof statues and monuments was especially interesting. Theseobjects are understood by the public to be public art, and oftenserve as photo opportunities for visitors to the city. In additionto the auditory alienation of a place, it is also a visualintervention, which is immortalized in the photographs oftourists.

Basically, it was thought that residents would not directly beaffected by the sound interventions. The use of audio unitswas dispensed with in close proximity to residential areas asmuch as possible. In certain places, such as in parks, severalUrban Crickets were simultaneously set free. Overlays ofchirps generated a summer- like cricket concert. In order forthe Urban Crickets to stay active during the night, they werepositioned in the immediate vicinity of streetlights.

7. CONCLUSIONIn the course of this paper, an overview has been given ondifferent forms of artistic expression and their development inthe hotly contested area of the public space. In this context,the role of street art and its heterogeneous techniques wereinvestigated and explained with examples to improveunderstanding. The practical research project Sound Tossingis an attempt to establish sound interventions in the context ofstreet art. At the same time, it also puts an emphasis oncurrent issues in public spaces, in particular in relation to theprevailing situation, to attract attention to urban sounds.

In recent years, an increase in interventions that use sound asa medium in connection with emerging new technologieswithin street art has been recorded. The project Sound Tossingis in the tradition of these projects, questioning public spacewith sound. It deals with the perception of soundinterventions in urban space and any resulting problems andopportunities.

A major problem with the Sound Tossing actions was thatthey were easy to ignore or to overlook in urban areas. This isdue to the general subtleness of the intervention of the UrbanCrickets, but above all it is affected by the dominance of ourvisual perception. Compared to conventional street art, SoundTossing is difficult to discover in the city. Particular emphasiswas therefore given to a strategy for placement of the audiounits. We cannot simply place art works in public and expecteveryone to use, understand and appreciate them. Studyingpublic space and how inhabitants use the space is key to asuccessful art installation in that context. [6]

8. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe would like to thank Kunstuniversität Linz for theirsupport of this project, as well as the Alumniverein forum -Kunstuniversität Linz and the Linz Culture.

9. REFERENCES[1] B. G. M. de Waal. The City as Interface, Digital Media and

the Urban Public Sphere. Disertation, University ofGroningen, 2012.

[2] Russegger G., Tarasiewicz M., Wlodkowski M. CodedCulture, The City as Interface, 2011.

[3] Gaye L., Mazé R. Holmquist L. E. Sonic City: The UrbanEnvironment as a Musical Interface , NIME 2003.

[4] Flemming M. Chang K. Millns K. Audio Bombing: MagneticCassette Tape Graffiti. 4th International Mobil MusicWorkshop, 2007.

[5] Birchfeld D., Phillips K., Kidane A., Lorig D. InteractivPublic Sound Art: a case study, NIME 2006.

[6] James Cochrane. Augmenting Social Environments Real-TimeData in Public Spaces. Masterthesis, University of Art andDesign, Linz, 2011.


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