With the installation Sonicity, the English artist Stanza adds another significant chapter to his quest for new metaphors to translate the countless interactions produced by data passing through an environment into a sensory plane. Stanza’s aim is to create a data space that is perceived as alive. To achieve this goal he has installed a great number of sensors that are able to detect the smallest changes in variables (such as light, temperature, noise, humidity and the location of certain objects) in the building that houses the gallery. Each of these sensors provides information on the parameters being monitored. These data are then transformed by Sonicity into a sound environment through the use of a wireless network consisting of hundreds of small speakers positioned on the floor and walls of the exhibition space. The visitor is then encouraged to dive into an area where her interactions with the environment are transformed in real time into sounds (which are deftly harmonized by a specific sound synthesis engine written by the artist in Max / MSP), thus becoming aware of even the smallest change in the surrounding environment, such as a tiny increase in humidity. More importantly, however, users become aware of the continuous stream of data that passes through their own bodies.

Vito Campanelli