Workshop Martin Howse – Voiced / Detection – Janvier 2016

« The pick was [then] used to hammer on the surface, and by this means,

the Angle Ditch was discovered. The sound produced by hammering on an excavated part is much deeper than on an undisturbed surface, a circumstance worth knowing when exploring a grass-grown downland, though not applicable to cultivated ground. »

-[Augustus Pitt Rivers. Excavations in Cranborne Chase. Volume IV. 1895]

Sound can be conceived as the expression of material undergoing specific physical stresses. As the earth is tapped with the back of the shovel, or as the cast metals of rail tracks are subjected to immense forces by the wheels of an arriving high speed train, information is revealed concerning the often less than visible strains and molecular interactions of the material world. It’s a strictly epistemological investigation, equally providing forensic material concerning an immaterial, invisible world; material for a certain psychic detective seeking to make sense of the world and give voice to another. Following Pitt Rivers, this sonic archaeology can be summarised as excitation followed by detection.

During the workshop participants will learn to:
– practically stage classical EVP detection experiments (Juergenson, Raudive and beyond)
– build devices to play back and decode surface marks and inscriptions
– make audible fluctuations in laser light and electrochemical reactions
– translate ultrasonic impulses to the audio range
– work with the active construction of electromagnetic emissions

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