[ISEA2004] Artists Statement: Tuomo Tammenpää & Tamas Szakal – Float

Artists Statement

In FLOAT, the ship is the play-head and the route is the track. Depth, direction, speed and the surrounding islands build the score for the sound installation. The ship plays the track as it moves across the Baltic Sea.
The sea, especially the deep unknown, retains an aura of mystery in this era of easy and extreme travelling. There is a fascination for the vast dimensions of oceanic bodies of water and the secrets they possess. The power of a storm, the long horizon and the incomprehensible unknown raises respect and awe among many of us.
On the surface, there are the shapes of islands and the coastline, drawn against the horizon. The multitude of ship routes and passages that connect countries and cities weave a vast invisible network of paths. While crossing between the various locations, the ISEA voyage provides a lots of information which can be neither seen nor heard. This sound installation makes some of the invisible dimensions and the silent layers of data, audible.
The ferry travels across a map, moving high above the sea floor, sometimes shallow, sometimes deep. This passage in time generates various data. All these data streams: the GPS coordinates, distance to islands, depth, direction and speed are translated to sounds. The result is a slowly developing soundscape that invites the traveller to listen to his or her location in time and space.

  • This is the first collaboration of Finnish media artist Tuomo Tammenpää and Hungarian media artist Tamas Szakal. Tamas has his background in sound based installation art where Tuomo’s skills are more on the visual side of interactive media.

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