News
The ParaOice is a sound installation by CUTTER // NASH. The work featured in the bodyparts exhibition, Asia House, London, 2-5 Jul 2019. Sonic Pixels was used as the delivery system for the piece.
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We’ve been developing new control interfaces for Sonic Pixels - alternative ways to trigger the devices using the Open Sound Control (OSC) based messaging protocol Andrew Robinson, project lead of CodeBug, developed as part of updating the original hardware...
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After a week of late nights uploading, hanging and testing Sonic Pixels, we are now putting the final touches to the immersive show, put on as part of Manchester Science Festival 2018. 24 devices are now carefully hung from the magnificent cast iron balconies in the wonderful setting of Barton Arcade. Audience members will be able to walk through this
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Owl Project work with craft and electronics to create a fusion of sculpture and sound art, creating sonic machines, interfaces and objects. Drawing on influences such as 70’s synthesiser culture, woodwork, stone age and current digital technologies. The resulting artwork is a quirky and intriguing critique of the allure and production of technology. The result is a distinctive range of
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This Friday 26th October 2018 6pm - 10.30pm Free - booking required via the Manchester Science Festival site Arrive early for free drinks in Pot Kettle Black! An evening of presentations by the Cornbrook Creative team, contributing artists and project supporters; live demonstrations and performances by the artists; and a chance to interact with Sonic Pixels for yourself. Experience what it
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Based in Manchester, Gemma is a digital storyteller and sound artist whose work focuses on re-imagining the ‘othered’ body and the complex relationship between medicine, disability and ethics. She is particularly interested in using re-hashed “found” sounds and other recycled materials to create impressionistic, disjointed pieces and raw, authentic creative narratives about people, places and things. Previous work includes ‘The
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With only a few days until we go live, we would like announce and introduce to you the artists creating sonic compositions inspired by this unique building and its history. First up is Jaydev Mistry... Jaydev - part of the Manchester music scene for over 20 years – is a guitarist, percussionist and music technologist. He has designed and built
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What links Italian design, Victorian infrastructure, Japanese furnishings, high class china & glassware, discredited phrenology and rumoured subterranean tunnels? ©ManchesterLibraries The answer lies in the iconic, Grade ll listed, Barton Arcade in Deansgate, Manchester. To creatively explore this exemplar ‘hidden gem’ of Victorian architecture, Manchester Science Festival have commissioned Cornbrook Creative to showcase their innovative sound delivery system Sonic Pixels
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Keen to explore Sonic Pixels' potential as a tool for performance Jon Large & Lewis Sykes of Cornbrook Creative joined Anthony Donovan's 100 Murmurists 'Poor vs Poor' event at St Peter's Arts Centre, Preston on 9th June 2018, 5pm. Jon fabricated steel stands and mounts for the 25 devices so they could be positioned and grouped around the venue -
Read moreSonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade - Documentation
Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade enabled us to transform this already stunning example of Victorian glass and steel architecture
from this… to this!
View a selection of photographs that document the Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade project in the embedded Google Photos album below – or visit the album at https://photos.app.goo.gl/7F7uqqCBS34xVgSD8.
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Members of the Cornbrook Creative team and project documentarian – the historical photographer Michele Selway – followed and photographed the progress of the project – from early visits to Barton Arcade, on-site briefings with the contributing artists and sessions at Cakebread Workshop familiarising them with and testing work-in-progress on the Sonic Pixels system – through fabrication and installation of Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade by the Cornbrook Creative team and our collaborators – to the launch event on Friday, 26th October 2018 and exhibition over the course of the weekend 27-28th October 2018.
[break]Video documentation of Cornbrook Creative’s ‘Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade’ project, 26-28th October 2018.
[break]The video includes a slideshow of the Google Photos album above and video footage of the installation in action during the exhibition – underpinned by contributing sonic artist Jaydev Mistry’s composition ‘The Ghost of Barton’.
The audio is a stereo export of Jaydev’s piece – in the exhibition it was significantly spatialised via the 3×8 grid of Sonic Pixels installed in the venue – and isn’t synced to the video i.e. the Sonic Pixels LEDs which indicate they’ve been triggered aren’t representative of the audio – rather they give a general impression of how the piece might have looked.
Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade
48 Barton Square, Manchester M3 2BH
Friday, 26th October 2018, 6-10.30pm, Free (PREVIEW – Free – booking required via the Manchester Science Festival site)
Saturday, 27th – Sunday, 28th October 2018, ‘By Day’ – 10am-6pm / ‘By Night’ – 6-10.30pm, Free
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Step into a world of sound with Sonic Pixels. Wander through the stunning Victorian shopping mall, trigger speakers in real-time and experience what it feels like to be right at the heart of sonic compositions inspired by and interpreting this unique building and its history – by sound artists Jaydev Mistry, Gemma Nash, Owl Project and Cornbrook Creative.
Sonic Pixels is a novel sound delivery system – 24 overhead, remote-controlled, mini-speakers arranged in a regular grid like pixels on a screen, that allows us to ‘draw’, ‘paint’ and ‘animate’ with sound.
Originally developed as a mini-commission for Manchester Science Festival 2017, Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade will:
- deploy and showcase the artwork in a unique, historical, city-centre venue as part of Manchester Science Festival 2018;
- extend the capability of the system in collaboration with CodeBug;
- explore the system’s creative potential by inviting three sound artists from our network to realise site-specific interventions into the venue – ‘By Day’ (10am-6pm) as a ‘sonic backdrop’ to everyday activity and ‘By Night’ (6-10.30pm) as a live performance system and interactive sound art installation accessible to the general public;
- and with educational input from the Foundation for Digital Creativity develop Sonic Pixels as an ‘art-technology toolkit’ for creative play and learning – via a series of ’hands-on’ workshops for children with complex learning needs at Hawthorns School, Audenshaw culminating in a public showcase as part of the exhibition.
About
Imagine being a listener at the heart of a dynamic dawn chorus of bird song; the creaks and groans of a haunted house; or a Noise Orchestra curated sound palette of electromagnetic recordings, bat detectors and noise experiments on an MS-20.
What if these sonic experiences were created not through the conventional medium of surround sound — but rather through a matrix of 25 remote-controlled, mini-speakers arranged in a regular grid – like pixels on a screen.
Like pixels on a screen, this system allows us to ‘draw’, ‘paint’ and ‘animate’ with sound – to create sonic equivalents of brightness, colour and texture. Not via a carefully pre-arranged multi-channel audio composition, but through an intuitive, custom-coded iPad interface that allows for real-time, wireless triggering of each speaker – each ‘sonic pixel’ within the grid.
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Developers and Supporters
Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade is a collaboration with CodeBug and the Foundation for Digital Creativity, a mini-commission for Manchester Science Festival 2018 and is supported by Arts Council England, Digital Innovation at MMU, Crowd UK, Barclays Salford Eagle Lab and dnbAudile.
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