Whole Earth Echo encompasses a series of works that explore the belief in a hollow Earth as theorized by a nineteenth century utopian community named the Koreshan Unity.
In the spirit of misguided scientific practice (or sincere magical thought), Whole Earth Echo considers the reverberant qualities of a sealed sphere’s immaterial center, positing that a sound made from one location within a hollow Earth would take approximately 74.3 seconds to return to its point of origin after reflecting off its antipode within the planet’s interior shell.
image of MIDI data capture (1:00 excerpt of 30:00 audio composition below) – 2019
Faux Field Recording is an ambient soundscape made in collaboration with a carambola tree.
Utilizing a MIDI biodata sonification device, musical data was collected from the tree and used within Ableton Live to activate synthesized samples of cicada species native to the American South. In addition to the sound of falling starfruit making contact with the ground, all sources of audio within Faux Field Recording have been processed through a delay effect (created in Max 4 Live) that mimics the hypothetical echo time of 74.3 seconds within the Koreshan Unity’s hollow planet.
Utilizing a MIDI biodata sonification device, musical data was collected from the tree and used within Ableton Live to activate synthesized samples of cicada species native to the American South. In addition to the sound of falling starfruit making contact with the ground, all sources of audio within Faux Field Recording have been processed through a delay effect (created in Max 4 Live) that mimics the hypothetical echo time of 74.3 seconds within the Koreshan Unity’s hollow planet.
animated GIF – 2019Vernacular Earth visually diagrams the Whole Earth Echo effect as demonstrated in Faux Field Recording through the appropriation and reauthoring of a Web 1.0-era animated GIF.
Untitled (Echo, UT) – digital photograph – 20194 archival inkjet prints, 12″ x 16″ each – 2018
4 archival inkjet prints, 12″ x 16″ each – 2018
Koreshan Fruit is a collection of four 3D modeled fruit that have each been digitally bisected to highlight the reverberant qualities of their hollowed interiors.
The depicted fruit originates from a historic reconstruction at Koreshan State Park (Estero, FL) in which a bowl containing plastic facsimiles of each variety was placed (see photo below). Koreshan Fruit extends the idea of a hollow Earth by considering the conceptual possibilities offered within the spaces of hypothetical interiors.
clockwise from top left : Hollow Carambola / Hollow Apple / Hollow Mango / Hollow Orange
The depicted fruit originates from a historic reconstruction at Koreshan State Park (Estero, FL) in which a bowl containing plastic facsimiles of each variety was placed (see photo below). Koreshan Fruit extends the idea of a hollow Earth by considering the conceptual possibilities offered within the spaces of hypothetical interiors.
clockwise from top left : Hollow Carambola / Hollow Apple / Hollow Mango / Hollow Orange
Facsimiles – digital photograph – 2018
Solid Space – translucent 3D prints in OSB container – 2018