Event #1: Acoustical Visions by Bill Fontana

On Thursday, April 5th, I went to an interesting lecture by Bill Fontana about his work in acoustical vision. During his presentation, he showcased pieces of his artwork from the eerie inside of a bell in a Buddhist temple to the bottom of the 25th de Abril Bridge in Portugal. In the image to the bottom right, there's a picture of the time he set up a sound system at the top of a bridge and recorded what it sounded and looked like to see the cars below. He gave the audience not only a listening of places that many people would never have wondered what sounds like but a glimpse of the mysterious changes in environment over time. Some of his most surprising findings during his sound sculpture career was when he listened to the desert. He realized such a setting sounded a lot like waves in an ocean, as if the land were reminiscing of a time it once was a sea. To me, his findings showed that there is a whole world of mystery we have yet to discover if we just close our eyes and listen to our surroundings.

Interestingly enough, there was a physics professor who attended Fontana's talk and asked him if he ever thought of listening to the sounds of the smog that covers Los Angeles. According to the physicist's knowledge, there may be unique properties in aerodynamics and particle interaction in the air when one goes into this particular part of the atmosphere. This struck me because not only did I expect a science professor to be in attending the lecture, but I had never even considered an art and science collaboration upon Fontana's conclusion of his talk. Resonating with this week's topic of math and art being intricately intertwined, I saw this first-hand but with scientific principles and art. I would highly recommend this event for anyone who truly wants to see science and art coming together.  

 

Link to the event: http://arts.ucla.edu/single/bill-fontana-acoustical-visons/

Sources:

1. Criteria Air Pollutant Descriptions.” Smog and Particulates: Pollutant Descriptions, 2011, scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/cap/pollutant-desc.tcl.
2. Particle Pollution (PM), airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=aqibasics.particle.
3. Isaacman, Aaron Reuben and Gabriel. “Soundscapes of Smog: Researchers Let You Hear the Pollution of Cities (Literally).” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 10 Sept. 2012, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/soundscapes-of-smog-researchers-let-you-hear-the-pollution-of-cities-literally/262152/.