Smart Audio Tools offers its expertise for the technical realization of your artistic installations. Baptiste de La Gorce, an engineer specialized in computer science, electronics, acoustics, and signal processing (CV here), will support you through the different phases of your project. After carefully listening to understand the artistic intent, we will propose several technical solutions that respect your vision. Then, we will co-develop the chosen technical solution with you, working closely together to precisely meet your expectations. Smart Audio Tools has collaborated on numerous artistic works, notably with the students of Le Fresnoy - National Studio for Contemporary Arts (France). Below, you will find an overview of some of our projects. For any new project, feel free to contact us.
Computer Science: Real-time Python with SmartFramework, MicroPython, Arduino, Max/MSP.
Electronics: Sensors, actuators, sound, LED/light control, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Adafruit.
Signal Processing: Conversion of raw data into audible information (audification), light or visual data, and time-frequency processing.
The Telepaths by Claire Williams
The Telepaths is an installation that explores the materiality of human consciousness by translating data captured from 254 electrodes measuring the brain activity of people in deep comas into sound and light waves. A handmade electronic network, composed of copper wires and magnetized balls in chemistry containers, materializes these brain waves. Each electrode is connected to a glass container, illuminated by an LED strip, and to an electromagnet that moves the ball inside, thus creating a visual and auditory representation of neuronal activity.
http://www.xxx-clairewilliams-xxx.com/projets/les-telepathes
Smart Audio Tools : Design of the electronic and computing system in Python, to control the LEDs and electromagnets while staying as faithful as possible to the raw data from the sensors, respecting their nuances and temporal resolution.
Ondoscope by Claire Williams
Ondoscope is a device that gathers and reactivates the diagrams and concepts of several experimental scientists from the mid-19th century who sought to detect mystical fluids and magnetic forces contained in the ether. The installation materializes the electromagnetic variations of the exhibition space in real-time. An antenna scans the area, searching for the electromagnetic ghosts that pass through it. A program translates these flows into mechanical vibrations, made visible by eight strings that modulate according to the intensity and nature of these waves. A viewfinder invites the viewer to look through it, where they see effluvia emanating from the strings, transcribing the air into tiny variations that give rise to the sound phenomena materializing before our eyes.
http://www.xxx-clairewilliams-xxx.com/projets/les-aethers
Smart Audio Tools : Programming of the device for scanning and receiving radio waves, followed by their transposition into frequencies visually observable through the various modes of resonance of the springs.
Zoryas by Claire Williams
This installation makes the electromagnetic activity of the sun both visible and audible by translating raw data, captured by various telescopes around the world, into electric flashes and sound vibrations. At the center of a large flat disk rest six blown glass forms containing plasma of noble gases from the interstellar medium (argon, neon, krypton, xenon, nitrogen). This plasma is electrified by a coil placed beneath the disk, generating a 40,000-volt electric field. This field, modulated by solar activity, produces electric flashes in colors that vary according to the gas in each form, synchronized with the rhythm of solar activity. By placing their hands over their ears and resting their elbows on the ring surrounding the disk, visitors can perceive this solar activity as if it were emanating from inside their own bodies.
http://www.xxx-clairewilliams-xxx.com/projets/zoryas
Smart Audio Tools : Programming of the device, along with the time-frequency algorithms, allowing the raw data from the sun's electromagnetic activity to be transposed as directly as possible into the audible and visible domains.
C=1/√ρχ by Cécile Beau
C=1/√ρχ is a transparent architectural model, resembling a miniature refinery, made up of chemistry glassware. Random sounds and a stream broadcasting urban flow sounds alternate inside via sound transmission and reception systems to create circulation. As they pass through the various glass modules, the sound is slowly filtered, softened, and reshaped, until it loses its original texture, evoking a sonic distillery.
https://www.cecilebeau.com/C=1/√ρχ
Smart Audio Tools : Programming of the sound propagation device through multiple speakers, blown glass tubes, and microphones, with resonance correction using frequency filters (FFT) tuned by machine learning.
Contre Visite by Sébastien Cabour
Visitors are invited to sit behind the wheel of an abandoned old Volvo, unaware that it is, in fact, a booby-trapped car. As soon as they turn the ignition key and start the car, every movement they make, every manipulation of the controls is closely monitored, triggering an unstoppable sonic mechanism that inevitably leads to a sonic explosion.
http://www.scabour.net/contre-visite
Smart Audio Tools : Programming of an audio driving simulator using sensors placed on the steering wheel, pedals, and gear shift. Development of a sound recorder and sequencer that captures sounds triggered by the sensors (turn signals, door handles, etc.), gradually degenerating into a final sonic explosion.
108 by HeeWon Lee
In this sound and video installation, letters escape from 108 music boxes in rhythm with the notes produced, moving upward across the screen like in a reversed Tetris, to form testimonies of abandoned or orphaned children. The combination of these music boxes and the imagery creates an atmosphere that is both oppressive and delicate, reflecting the subtle violence and fragility of the theme being explored.
https://romaeuropa.net/en/archive/digitalife/edition-2014/heewon-lee-108/
Smart Audio Tools : Programming of a real-time device that semi-randomly triggers the 108 music boxes, along with a real-time algorithm that calculates the trajectory of the letters, enabling the formation of testimonies, translated into three languages, at the top of the screen.
Variations Ordinaires by Anna Marziano
The art installation "Variations Ordinaires" by Anna Marziano uses Nanoparticles Tracking Analysis technology to project images of Brownian motion in water particles, creating a tension between nature and human subjectivity. This projection is combined with sound recordings of striking phrases collected in public spaces in Roubaix. The voices, randomly broadcast, blend with ambient sounds reminiscent of a distant city. As the audience moves through the sound and visual space, they trigger the voices and interact with the projections, thereby deepening the reflection on human exchanges and the transformation of subjectivity.
https://www.lefresnoy.net/exposition/56/oeuvre/456/
Smart Audio Tools : Programming of the entire interactive component and the playback of recordings to offer the most immersive experience possible for the visitors.