Liquid, Light & Sound
ABOUT
Plastics pollution in our marine life & oceans shown in a new immersive display of work by Alex Dexter-Mills, former student at the University of Hull. Using liquids, lights & sound to display the challenges we face as non-biodegradable plastics enter our oceans and affect our marine life.
The original project formed part of Alex's dissertation project as part of his BA Creative Music Technology at the University of Hull. The culmination of a year's work from July 2018 to July 2019, initially the original compositions were structured around three main outcomes, shown to various audiences, as a live performance, an installation and a acousmatic composition. Throughout the project, various methods of recording liquids were researched, whilst analysing and gaining a wider knowledge in the composition of acousmatic and contemporary electronic composition.
The project topic and mission is:
'To express how non-biodegradable plastics affect marine life and our oceans, using immersive experiences and engaging audio to show the crisis at sea. Liquid, Light & Sound investigates and experiments with the creation and capture of liquids for the use in the live performance, installation and composition projects.'
Liquid, Light & Sound
An original project by Audio Producer - Alex D-M
Spanning the 2018/19 academic year, 'LLS' delved into new territory; investigating & experimenting with the creation and capture of liquids for the use in composition, live performance and within mini installations.
The project had 3 main outputs.
Output 1 was a live performance:
Liquid, Light & Sound LIVE
Output 2 was a installation:
A Plasticky Mess
Output 3 was a fixed media composition:
The Ocean's End-scape
Each was revealed throughout the academic year. All the content is now available online to view.
Spanning the 2018/19 academic year, the project had 3 main outputs:
Live Performance - Liquid, Light & Sound LIVE
Installation - A Plasticky Mess
Acousmatic Composition - An Oceans' End-scape
Each output was revealed progressively throughout the academic year. Now each is made available online.
Liquid, Light & Sound LIVE by Alex Dexter-Mills is a live immersive experience expressing how single use plastics affect marine life and our oceans. The audience will be submerged into a liquidy world full of curiosity and exploration. Diffused live on the 31-loudspeaker HEARO (Hull ElectroAcoustic Resonance Orchestra) system.
Expressing how non-biodegradable plastics affect marine life and our oceans, this immersive experience is the first part of the project Liquid, Light & Sound which is investigating and experimenting with the creation and capture of liquids for the use in composition, live performance and installation projects.
The first movement ‘Our Oceans’ is an immersive movement of pre-composed materials deployed through a developing story of ‘Our Ocean’ in its current problematic plastic state, with words by leading marine plastics experts highlighting the challenges we face. The second movement ‘Squelches’ uses live liquid tanks on stage, featuring water, custard and tonic used to explore sounds enveloping the listener in real-time acoustic world of squelches.
The experience started with a work by composer George Sztuka: a dive into the electroacoustic world, exploring our psychoacoustic mechanisms and exploiting the dualities of music and the world around us. Realised as a performative work, this piece will be diffused live, creating an immersive journey through the acousmatic realm and back.
The live performance was diffused on the HEARO system: a 31-loudspeaker performance instrument that allows realtime spatialisation of sound around the concert hall, immersing the audience in a vivid and dynamic sound environment.
Video Coming Soon
The second part of Liquid, Light & Sound. An installation at Middleton Hall Foyer at the University of Hull. Listen and watch whilst deep in thought as you are submerged into an immersive experience of compositions related to plastic pollution in our marine life & oceans.
VIRTUAL INSTALLATION BELOW
A Plasticky Mess
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the virtual A Plasticky Mess Installation, an online adaptation of the original installation on display in the Middleton Hall foyer at the University of Hull, May 2019.
The video above is the same video which greeted visitors upon arrival to Middleton Hall Foyer, encouraging them to visit the installation.
Virtual - How does it work?
Simply, the same content used in the original installation has been reformatted so you can visit the installation online, in the comfort of your own home, ideal for the current socially distanced times.
Click through (right arrow to progress onto the next exhibit) the exhibits, listen/watch content and learn facts about the ocean plastics problem.
This uses a tonally static environment to represent the ocean slowly ending, blending the different water recordings to climax and signify the start of the demise of life in the ocean.
Following more traditional approaches to soundscape composition, this work uses the natural rhythm and texture of the audio to provide as the development of the composition. Using more advanced editing and audio manipulation, it provides a more coherent development relevant to its audio.
JOIN IN
Coming Soon
Thanks to...
Grateful for support from...
Professor Dan Parsons
Dr Rob Mackay
Dr Matt Barnard
Charlotte Durham
Tony Courts
Sandy Clark
George Sztuka
Whilst we can't undo what has already taken place, we can change our habits and uses of plastics. Throughout the experience, I have highlighted the issues of single-use plastics and created sound worlds based on facts and thoughts of the issues.
