PLAN8T AIR S21 “The invisible sound”

Christina Lan (US)  is a sound artist, DJ, coder, and interface experimentalist based in Brooklyn, NY. She uses 3D web design, spatial audio, and re-synthesized vocal experimentation to create multi-sensory experiences. Currently, she works with radio waves to sonically engage with technical infrastructures and the discourse around data futures. Her practice involves the creation of soundscapes paired with virtual participation to remap network topologies with electromagnetic sound and signal.

Christina Lan（美国）是一位声音艺术家、DJ、编码员和界面实验者，居住在纽约的布鲁克林。她使用3D网页设计、空间音频和再合成的人声实验来创造多感官的体验。目前，她利用无线电波以声音参与技术基础设施和围绕数据未来的讨论。她的实践包括创造声景与虚拟参与，用电磁声音和信号重新映射网络拓扑结构。

Quantum Needle | 量子针
Installation

Imperceptible to human ears, the signals detected from mobile networks and satellite messaging sound eerily like birds migrating above. While we become aware of overhead species through more overt signs of habitation (evidence occasionally perceived as bordering on intrusion), the invisibility of network and wireless infrastructure belies the existence of unfamiliar interference.

Radio waves tell the story of insistent connectivity and cybernetic triumph, but also the status of the planet’s layers of land, water, and sky. While we use the electromagnetic spectrum to broadcast public programming, heat food, provide cell service, and transmit data, we are also able to use signals as a way to sense changes in the environment and its inhabitants.

Birds in particular are sensitive to these movements in the electromagnetic spectrum. Already capable of detecting the Earth’s magnetic fields through magneto-receptors in their retinas and beaks, birds rely on this internal compass to migrate home. Intrigued by this sense, scientists have tested the effects of various electromagnetic fields on different species of birds. While still inconclusive, it is evident that certain migratory birds experience magnetic disorientation depending on the types of anthropogenic electromagnetic noise. By becoming more familiar with the electromagnetic spectrum through radio waves and other ways of listening, we may be able to pivot our senses to those of nonhuman kin.

This speculative, audio-visual landscape contrasts invisible signal sound to bird song, framing the rare perspective of distinct bird species. Bridging the two geographical inspirations for the piece, sounds from field recordings of Monk Parakeets and Pigeons in New York City are paired with recordings of Lesser Coucals and Little Greebes in Changsha, China. The base layer of the world is composed of satellite imagery from NOAA-18 and textures of the dancing infrastructures build upon waterfall captures of recorded signals. These invisible wires are represented by recordings of electromagnetic energy throughout NYC as well as signals from sources that include 850 mHZ (3G) and 147 mHZ (used by US military). The movement and composition of both anthropogenic structures and birds-in-flight interact with one another, at times, converging and other times clashing.

Through this generative landscape-soundscape, viewers and listeners are invited to forge a new appreciation and connection with species in ways that counter their human-depicted narratives. In these spaces, participants listen to both the sounds that permeate the ether and the sounds of bird song. This conversation, one normally inaudible to the human listener, establishes an intimacy that is uniquely accomplished through a narration of sound. By hearing the chaotic mesh of advancing technology that non-human species physically endure, we can more regularly use signals as a way to become more attuned to the environment and to more critically understand the reality and future of invisible infrastructures.

Note
*Recordings of bird species taken from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
*Select waterfall imagery used from SigidWiki
*Additional field recordings of Changsha’s environment provided by P8

人耳无法察觉的、从移动网络和卫星消息中检测到的信号，听起来诡异地像鸟群在头顶上迁徙一般。虽然我们通过更明显的居住迹象意识到头顶物种（偶尔被认为接近入侵的证据），但网络和无线基础设施的不可见性掩盖了不熟悉的干扰的存在。

无线电波讲述了持续连接和控制论胜利的故事，也讲述了地球陆地、水和天空层的状态。虽然我们使用电磁频谱来广播公共节目、加热食物、提供手机服务和传输数据，但我们还能够使用信号来感知环境及其居民的变化。

鸟类对电磁波谱中的这些运动尤其敏感。鸟类已经能够通过视网膜和喙中的磁感受器探测地球的磁场，依靠这个内部指南针回家。科学家们被鸟类这一感知能力所吸引，进行了各种电磁场对不同种鸟类影响的测试。虽然仍然没有定论，但很明显，某些候鸟会因为某些特定类型的人为电磁噪声而经历磁定向障碍。通过无线电波更加熟悉电磁频谱和其他聆听方式，我们或许能够将我们的感官转向非人类亲属的感官。

这个推测性的视听景观将无形的信号声与鸟鸣进行对比，构成了独特鸟类的罕见视角。这件作品将两个地理灵感联系起来——把纽约市区里和尚鹦鹉和鸽子的现场录音与长沙驻留方这边所提供的鸦鹃和䴙䴘的鸟类录音结合，而形成世界观的基础层由来自NOAA-18的卫星图像和基于瀑布捕获记录信号的舞蹈基础设施的纹理组成。这些无形的电线由整个纽约市的电磁能量记录以及来自包括850mHZ（3G）和147mHZ（美国军方使用）在内的信号源表示。彼此相互作用的人为结构和飞行中鸟类，这两种动作和构成有时会聚、有时冲突。

通过这种生成的声景景观，观众即听众被邀请以与人类描述的叙事相反的方式与物种建立新的欣赏和联系。在这些空间中，参与者既可以听到迷幻缭绕的声音，也可以听到鸟鸣声。这种人类听众通常听不到的对话，通过声音的叙述建立了一种独特的亲密关系。聆听非人类物种常常忍受的由先进技术造成的混乱声网，我们更普遍地使用信号来更加适应环境并更加具有批判性地了解“隐形”基础设施的现实和未来。

注释
鸟类物种录音来源于The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
部分背景瀑布景象来源于SigidWiki
额外户外录音由P8星球提供（来源于特别支持龙青）