The site has been successfully tested on Firefox version 72, Google Chrome version 79 and Safari 13. Due to browser permission policies, the viewer must enable microphone and sound permissions in order for the site to function correctly (see images below). We have seen that some mobile browser applications (such as Firefox) do not request these permissions. Furthermore, restrictive auto-play policies may require that the viewer first interacts with the site (for example, clicking/touching the "Leaf" button) before enabling microphone/sound permissions. Every effort has been made in the development of the website to account for the varied browser permissions ecosystem. For best results, we recommend using a desktop computer or laptop browser where permissions are more easily configured.
Welcome to Wet Signal Voice Gardens, a growing online landscape and tool to explore the many facets of the human voice! Wet Signal Voice Gardens is a web-based artwork that invites broad participation to investigate the non-linguistic properties of voice and the place of the human voice in the digital world.
Live online for three months, in Wet Signal Voice Gardens, users can record within the site using the microphone on their computer or mobile phone, and the website’s technology translates the audio signal into visuals. Once a vocal recording has been submitted (and saved) as a visual, it will stay within the online environment for the course of one day so that the space grows like a garden, cumulatively populated by numerous varied and international voices. Every 24 hours, the site is cleared of all sounds recorded by visitors and can begin to grow afresh once more.
Copyright © Wet Signal Voice Gardens by Kari Robertson is commissioned by UP Projects for This is Public Space and supported by Stimuleringfonds and Arts Council England.
Kari Robertson b. 1988, Scotland, is a visual artist who lives and works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Robertson works with time-based media, primarily sound, analogue film and digital video. She received an M.A in Fine Art from The Piet Zwart Institute in 2016, and undertook a residency at Deltaworkers (New Orleans) through the Mondriaan Fund in 2019.
In her work Kari takes a ‘sci-fi’ approach to subjectivity, using narrative as a tool to re/un-think the sovereignty of our bodies, identities or minds, and as a means to access forms of ‘radical empathy’.
Kari also plays in the improvisational/experimental band Difficult with Eothan Stearn and Tracy Hanna.
The work was designed and developed by Cristina Cochior and Luke Murphy.
This website is made using mainly Flask and P5js.
Users are invited to record their voices speaking or making non-verbal sounds into the site which the software will then translate into visual forms. Audio attributes such as amplitude and duration of sound recordings are translated into the visual properties of size, number of edges, and colour. Users can play with using the different qualities of their voice to create varied and dynamic visualisations. The recordings are then ‘planted’ in the voice garden (or added to the archive).
Using the small ‘plant’ button, archived recordings by previous users are placed on the site and made to interact with the active user. The recordings made by visitors are deleted from the server each day.
UP Projects commissions contemporary art for public places. It supports artists to make work that has social relevance, encourages learning, transforms places and activates the public realm. UP Projects believes that public art has the greatest potential when the process is considered as important as the final project outcome.
Wet Signal Voice Gardens was commissioned by UP Projects as a part of its digital commissioning programme This is Public Space (TIPS). TIPS is a digital commissions programme that considers the online realm as a site for public art. TIPS creates space to explore how we navigate between the online and physical worlds, and to explore the impact of digital media on our relationships with people and places.
The Fund strives to make a substantial contribution to the quality of professional design practice within and especially between the disciplines of architecture, design and digital culture. Part of this endeavour is the interdisciplinary interplay between the cultural, social and economic domains. The Fund supports exceptional and innovative projects and activities of designers, makers and cultural institutions in the creative industries.
Wet signal Voice Garden is Licensed under the Creative Commons (CC) ‘Attribution – Non Commercial – NoDerivatives 4.0 International License’ (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
The recordings contained on this website are submitted by the public as part of the artwork Wet Signal Voice Gardens by Kari Robertson. If you intend to submit a recording, we cannot guarantee that your recording is protected from reuse or re-modification.
The opinions expressed in these recordings are the recorders own and do not reflect the views of Kari Robertson, UP Projects, Stimuleringsfonds or Arts Council England. The opinions expressed in these recordings are the recorders own and do not reflect the views of Kari Robertson, UP Projects, or Stimuleringsfonds. Because community standards vary and individuals sometimes may upload content not generally considered appropriate, you may be exposed to content that you find offensive or objectionable. Users are encouraged to bring any material they deem offensive or objectionable to the attention of UP Projects by emailing us at info@upprojects.com identifying the specific material they considered objectionable. You will be asked to supply a reason(s) for wanting the material removed.
This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license. Please follow the link to read the full license.
Please contact UP Projects at info@upprojects.com before using this material.
You may need to get additional permissions before using the material as you intended.
