Paul Adderley & Michael Young >
Ground Breaking, installation
08|11|2007 -
11|11|2007
Paul Adderley & Michael Young
Ground Breaking
Experience Past Landscapes in Grains and Pixels
In this installation, a computer explores and represents nearly 10,000 years of soil records, revealing them in different colours and perspectives.
Landscapes reflect the lives and histories of the people who live in them. Scientific analysis of the soil can be used to examine how people lived in the past and provide lessons for future management of landscapes in extreme or fragile environments. We invite you to become part of the shifting scenes of the Sahel in image and sound and reflect upon its presence and history... Soils can store information recording the way people have affected the land over thousands of years. Microscopic fragments of different objects found in the soil can tell us about past landscapes. The colour, size and number of fragments offer further clues about the management of landscapes. The latest advances in visual and sonic technologies allow us to illuminate and make audible these ancient landscapes. Sounds of the Sahel, and sounds made afresh are recalled and shaped by the computer using scientific information taken from the soil itself. The Sahel in Africa is an area at the fringe of the Sahara desert. It is one of the world’s most marginal environments yet is home to over 50 million people. With a dry season lasting eight months of the year and unreliable rainfall, survival is hard for farming communities. Climate change is keenly felt in the Sahel. Understanding how people managed this landscape during past periods of climate change is essential in developing successful responses to future changes.
Ground Breaking
Experience Past Landscapes in Grains and Pixels
In this installation, a computer explores and represents nearly 10,000 years of soil records, revealing them in different colours and perspectives.
Landscapes reflect the lives and histories of the people who live in them. Scientific analysis of the soil can be used to examine how people lived in the past and provide lessons for future management of landscapes in extreme or fragile environments. We invite you to become part of the shifting scenes of the Sahel in image and sound and reflect upon its presence and history... Soils can store information recording the way people have affected the land over thousands of years. Microscopic fragments of different objects found in the soil can tell us about past landscapes. The colour, size and number of fragments offer further clues about the management of landscapes. The latest advances in visual and sonic technologies allow us to illuminate and make audible these ancient landscapes. Sounds of the Sahel, and sounds made afresh are recalled and shaped by the computer using scientific information taken from the soil itself. The Sahel in Africa is an area at the fringe of the Sahara desert. It is one of the world’s most marginal environments yet is home to over 50 million people. With a dry season lasting eight months of the year and unreliable rainfall, survival is hard for farming communities. Climate change is keenly felt in the Sahel. Understanding how people managed this landscape during past periods of climate change is essential in developing successful responses to future changes.
Paul Adderley
British, 1967, RCUK Academic Fellow. University of Stirling, UK, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, http://www.sbes.stir.ac.uk/people/adderley.html, w.p.adderley@stir.ac.uk, he is soil scientist with publications in geoarchaeology and environmental history specialising in long-term societal-climatic interactions including the sustainability of societies in extreme environments, land degradation and environmental risk.
Michael Young
British, 1968, he is lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, Music Department. www.myoungmusic.com, m.young@gold.ac.uk, composer with interests in computer music, interactive performance systems and generative media. Recent works include Argrophylax (2005), Aur(or)a (2006) and Piano_Prosthesis (2007). Co-director of the Live Algorithms for Music network www.livealgorithms.org.
British, 1967, RCUK Academic Fellow. University of Stirling, UK, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, http://www.sbes.stir.ac.uk/people/adderley.html, w.p.adderley@stir.ac.uk, he is soil scientist with publications in geoarchaeology and environmental history specialising in long-term societal-climatic interactions including the sustainability of societies in extreme environments, land degradation and environmental risk.
Michael Young
British, 1968, he is lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, Music Department. www.myoungmusic.com, m.young@gold.ac.uk, composer with interests in computer music, interactive performance systems and generative media. Recent works include Argrophylax (2005), Aur(or)a (2006) and Piano_Prosthesis (2007). Co-director of the Live Algorithms for Music network www.livealgorithms.org.
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