Week 2

This concept focuses on the creative act of participants shaping sound into visual forms. The idea is based on research on data sculpture. That research showed that information can be understood more intuitively when it has a physical form, but most of the work remained in static forms. My project adds audience participation and real-time changes to this idea. Data sculptures are created and transformed instantly based on the viewer’s movements, providing a living visual experience. In this process, the audience becomes a digital sculptor, and tools like TouchDesigner act as a digital chisel to shape the sculpture.

In the work of artists like Ryoji Ikeda or Carsten Nicolai, data is transformed into intense visual and auditory experiences, but the audience mostly remains an observer. In contrast, my project emphasizes participation itself, aiming to let people experience the creative process rather than just the finished result. In this process, sensory translation is important. For example, acoustic qualities such as the sharpness of a sound are explored in terms of how they can be transformed into visual elements like shape, color, and movement. This allows the audience not just to hear the sound, but to see, shape, and experience it directly.

The second concept, or pillar, focuses on Embodied Interaction, which aims to expand the way people experience sound from merely hearing it with their ears to feeling and understanding it through their bodies. As several artists have noted, our thoughts and meanings are not formed only in our minds, but emerge through the interaction between the body and the surrounding world.

Therefore, this study seeks to transform the audience from passive observers, who simply watch the screen, into active participants who shape and visualize sound through their own gestures and movements. Moreover, based on studies by artists who explore noise and sound in art, this research extends the idea that physical movement enhances cognitive ability into an artistic context exploring how embodied interaction can deepen our understanding of complex sensory experiences such as noise.

The third concept or pillar is the ultimate goal: transforming noise into art. This idea is inspired by multisensory experiments that create experiences involving sight, smell, taste, and touch. My research uses a similar approach of multisensory layering, but with a key difference. Instead of applying it to existing artworks, I apply the idea to noise, which is a non-artistic, everyday material.

The concept of using noise as an artistic material has a rich history, from approaches that aim to explore all aspects of sound to installations that reconstruct public spaces. My work is closely connected to this history. It also relates to soundscape research and serves as a critical intervention into urban sound environments. Through this, the study seeks ways to transform what is usually considered unpleasant chaos and stress into hidden visual beauty.

While multisensory experiments aim to enrich existing art, this research focuses on making noise itself into art. These three pillars together form a coherent argument: shaping sound through embodied interaction, transforming noise into art, and enabling audiences to experience it in new ways. This approach contributes a unique and original perspective to the field.