HYDROCHORDION

Commission

Di was commissioned by Science Gallery Dublin and Professor Mark Plumbley of Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with Louis Mcallum, Richard Shed and Nanda Karpong of the Media Arts and Technology Group, to create Hydrocordion. The work was installed at the Science Gallery Dublin in September 2011 for 3 months as part of their “Surface Tension” Exhibition. Hydrocordion was a huge success and was experienced by over 75,000 visitors. The piece has since been installed in New York at Eyebeam Centre for Art and Technology as part of the World Science Fair.

EXPERIENCE

Hydrocordion is water organ, a playful musical device that invites visitors to become ‘squeezicians’ and compose soundscapes through the manipulation of air and water. Like a church organ, this instrument releases sound by the propulsion of air into pipes via air-slippers, which are installed around its circumference. To release a tune, squeezicians must commence a vigorous slipper-jig, thus providing a continual supply of air to each of the cylindrical aqua-flutes at the Hydrocordion’s centre. They must then attach a water bustle to their body and squeeze the liquid from the rubberised sack into the central aqua-flutes to change the frequencies of sounds. From afar, the audience sees these transparent water columns filling and draining as the wearable water-bustles are compressed and released. The sounds they hear are a mixture of digitised harmonies, combined with samples of sploshings and waterdrips, which are harvested in real time, thus creating a bespoke musical experience for squeezicians and audience alike.

press

Hydrocordion received great media attention including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, The Gothamist, BBC News, Reuters.