Peter Van Haaften, Michael Montanaro, and Garnet Willis Present Participatory Sound Installation On Air
There’s this cool sound installation called On Air, created by Peter Van Haaften, Michael Montanaro, and Garnet Willis. It uses a unique algorithmic approach to turn human voices into light. When people speak into two horn-shaped openings, their voices fill up a latex balloon. Inside this black box, the sounds get mixed and altered, with only the input and output visible. Eventually, the balloon pops from the pressure, and the sounds are processed through a modulator. They then get projected onto a flexible surface, changing briefly before shooting out as light beams through a mechanical iris. Lenses and mirrors create a beautiful, fragmented harmony, making sound visible and transforming voices into light. There's also a video on Vimeo of the installation.
Key facts
- On Air is a participatory sound installation by Peter Van Haaften, Michael Montanaro, and Garnet Willis.
- The work materializes an alchemical process of algorithmic conversion of acoustic data.
- Audience vocal input powers the machine by speaking into two French horn openings.
- Voices accumulate inside an expanding latex balloon, where phonetic rearrangement occurs.
- The balloon functions as a black box with only inputs and outputs accessible.
- Sounds are released, modulated, projected onto a flexible membrane, and transformed into light beams via a mechanical iris.
- A choreography of lenses and mirrors produces a deconstructed choral harmony.
- The installation visualizes sound wave propagation and creates an illusion of a real causal chain.
Entities
Artists
- Peter Van Haaften
- Michael Montanaro
- Garnet Willis