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White Noise / White Light
White Noise / White Light
White Noise / White Light was one of 9 temporary interactive urban installations commissioned and installed for the Athens 2004 Olympics from August 12 - 30, 2004 at the plaza entry to the Theater of Dionysus below the Acropolis as part of the ATHENS 2004: Catch the Light Program. Part of the programmed ‘Listen to Athens’ route, the project inserted a luminous interactive sound- and land- scape within an urban public plaza to create a constantly publicly choreographed field in flux. Semi-flexible fiber-optic strands, arranged in a fading grid, responded to the movement of pedestrians through the field by emitting white light and white noise. For 18 days, visitors walked through and interacted with the sonic field of chest high end-emitting optics.
Activated by the passersby, the fiber optics transmit light from white LEDs while the speakers below the raised deck emit white noise. Just as white light is made of the full spectrum of light, white noise contains every frequency within the range of hearing in equal amounts. The white noise made for the project is based on a physical phenomenon called Johnson noise, where noise arises from the thermal motions of electrons in a resistor carrying current in an electronic circuit. This field of white noise creates a unique sound-scapein the city and masks out the noises from the immediate context, forming a place of sonic refuge within the bustling city.
Each stalk unit contains its own passive infrared sensor and microprocessor, which uses a software differentiation algorithm to determine whether a body is passing by the stalk. If motion is detected, the white LED illumination grows brighter while the white noise increases in volume. Once motion is no longer detected, the microprocessor smoothly decreases the light and fades the sound to silence. The movement of pedestrians creates an afterglow effect in the form of a flickering wake of white light and white noise, trailing and tracing visitors as they cross the field. Depending on the time of day, number of people, and trajectories of movement, the project is constantly being choreographed by the cumulative interaction of the public. The field becomes an unpredictable aggregation of movement, light and sound.
Activated by the passersby, the fiber optics transmit light from white LEDs while the speakers below the raised deck emit white noise. Just as white light is made of the full spectrum of light, white noise contains every frequency within the range of hearing in equal amounts. The white noise made for the project is based on a physical phenomenon called Johnson noise, where noise arises from the thermal motions of electrons in a resistor carrying current in an electronic circuit. This field of white noise creates a unique sound-scapein the city and masks out the noises from the immediate context, forming a place of sonic refuge within the bustling city.
Each stalk unit contains its own passive infrared sensor and microprocessor, which uses a software differentiation algorithm to determine whether a body is passing by the stalk. If motion is detected, the white LED illumination grows brighter while the white noise increases in volume. Once motion is no longer detected, the microprocessor smoothly decreases the light and fades the sound to silence. The movement of pedestrians creates an afterglow effect in the form of a flickering wake of white light and white noise, trailing and tracing visitors as they cross the field. Depending on the time of day, number of people, and trajectories of movement, the project is constantly being choreographed by the cumulative interaction of the public. The field becomes an unpredictable aggregation of movement, light and sound.
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