✍️ assessment1⃣️
Recap SI25-26
Special Issue 25: Sound Explorations and Radio Production
During Special Issue 25, I learn how to explore sound and radio production. This course began with concept of field recording, capturing the variety sonic landscape and discovering how sounds connect community and reflect societal values. Through the protocol of collective performance, we collaborated with worm radio, learning to operate devices and make some experimental radio. I also tried technical skills by creating DIY contact microphone and audio device, discovering the unique sound textural qualities by hand-crafting.
Water Radio project conceptualizing an underwater journey that used water as both physical material and metaphor. This aligned poerty with my interest in how sound can function metaphorically - water's formless, adaptable nature became a framework for exploring experimental approaches to sound.
I also learn VCV Rack, a modular synthesis, where I tried to creating string-like tones through Karplus-Strong synthesis and wind instrument sounds through function generator modulation, it is a new area for me. We use this technical exploration complemented in our radio show, and we have a role-play reading part, it inspired the next radio show Protocol for Call Center, it examined power dynamics in automated systems through role-play conversations. After doing research, I found out we shared the common experience in a rigid system, how systems shape human interaction.
The radio-making process became important to me as a method of collecting and reorganizing relationships within sounds. I discovered that editing doesn't need to show obvious correlations between elements, but can represent thoughts, memories, and relationships with the world. The improvisational sound performances with Joseph - both in the aquarium room and at Worm - were particularly enjoyable and enlightening. I was inspired by Tetsuo Kogawa's micro-radio concept and his Radio Party project, which connects communities through DIY transmission.
Special Issue 26: CSS Explorations and Cross-Media Connections
Special Issue 26 focuses on CSS, and I learnt ASCII art aesthetics as an early internet visual expression through type-writers and CSS styling, finding parallels between this historical form and contemporary web design. The "Face Reading" visualization project became a central focus, creating an interactive face mapping system inspired by traditional Chinese physiognomy.
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/User:Wyn/Special_Issue_26#Aesthetic_swap
I discovered some connections between Chinese face reading and CSS grid systems - both functioning as positioning systems that determine relationships between elements. This exploration expanded to include interactive audio elements, incorporating sound generation based on facial features through the Web Audio API.
My technical understanding deepened through studying CSS properties like a linguist would study language elements, particularly focusing on display and position properties. I experimented with CSS transformations to create interactive visual elements and integrated JavaScript for dynamic webpage behavior. The project required learning about JavaScript, which was the most challenging part.
For external, I participated in various workshops that informed my thinking about connecting different media forms, building community through creative technology, and translating concepts between visual and sonic domains. I became particularly interested in weaving and other handcraft techniques, contemplating how these might combine with my city-themed explorations to create inclusive environments in urban spaces.
Reflection
Research Framework
What initially might appear as disparate interests—sound recording, radio production, CSS design, face mapping, and weaving—are actually unified by my interested in systems of interpretation, power dynamics, and community connection. I want to find out how systems mediate our experiences and how creative intervention can reveal, question, or transform these systems. My conceptual foundations expanded to include traditional Chinese physiognomy as a cultural practice and positioning system. I was interested in destiny and reinterpretation - how facial features can be viewed from multiple perspectives rather than as fixed determinants. This is connected to my study of CSS as a language system and historical typography, particularly the evolution from typewriter art to ASCII art. These seemingly disparate interests reveal a consistent fascination with systems of interpretation and their effects on human experience.
Frustration
For the Public Moment, I was confused about how to present sound work in a gallery context, and also felt uncertainty about presentation. This confusion led me to join the documentary group as an alternative approach. I attempted to recreate video material to complement my sound pieces, but I lost the files and I made a series of documentaries. Some of group uploaded their video into social media, this is an another public moment.
Outside the exhibition context, I developed a personal project translating my experiences in the Chinese art industry into a radio program. I submitted this to Worm Radio, though the online-only communication left me uncertain whether it was successfully broadcast. This project explored the absurdity of contemporary work systems through role play and sound design, connecting my previous experiences.
Future Development
Looking forward, I want to reorganize my research and script materials from the art industry radio show into a self-published work. I envision creating an audio zine that merges traditional publication with handcrafted audio devices, creating a multi-sensory documentation of art industry labor conditions. This approach would allow me to continue connecting art workers and broader audiences through sound while developing a distinctive approach to self-publishing.
I'm also drawn to the idea of creating a micro-radio that focuses specifically on people in my immediate vicinity, inspired by Tetsuo Kogawa and his micro-radio project, based on the homemade radio, he led Radio Party, which started with my transmitter workshop. He have been experimenting with various types of radio party in combination with transmitter workshop, radio art performance, airwave transmission and streaming. I am thinking how to localized his approach and merge with my own project. This could create intimate sonic communities while circumventing the limitations of traditional broadcast models.
https://www.are.na/block/35634328
The face mapping and sound generation project remains in active development. I aim to complete this interactive web installation that translates facial features into music and poetry, incorporating more sophisticated face detection technologies and expanding the cultural references and interpretations.
My weaving explorations hold potential for creating physical objects that relate to urban spaces and inclusivity. I'm interested in how handcrafts can create tangible connections with digital and sonic elements, perhaps developing woven QR codes or conductive thread components that link to sound experiences.
Conclusion
Looking at both Special Issues together reveals consistent interests in cross-media translation, systems critique, audience engagement, and cultural reinterpretation. The challenges I've faced - technical limitations, exhibition format difficulties, communication barriers, and resource constraints - have pushed me to reconsider how I approach the translation between different media forms.
I've gained important insights about the connection potential between sound and visual media through interactive technologies. Both my sound and CSS projects share an underlying interest in examining systems and their effects on human experience, whether through call center protocols or face reading traditions. This consistent thread gives my diverse explorations a conceptual cohesion.
Moving forward, I want to focus on three primary areas:
- Audio Zine Development
Creating self-published works that merge my script and artistic labor materials about art labor with handcrafted audio devices, developing both the content and the physical form simultaneously.
- Sound and Weaving Integration
Exploring how my weaving practice can connect with urban themes and sonic elements.
- Community Connection
Developing micro-radio concepts that focus on immediate proximity, creating intimate sonic relationships with those physically nearby rather than broad distribution.
My future work combines my skills in sound, web design, and handcrafts with my interests in radio, publishing, community, and urban spaces. The DIY approach fits my hands-on abilities in crafting, weaving, and sound production, while my workshop experiences help me think about spaces for community connection. Through these combined paths, I aim to build bridges between old crafts/interpretation and new media, personal expression and shared experience, and cultural traditions and contemporary innovation.