Seagrass Immersion
March 2024, Adelaide City
An interactive sound installation exhibited at the Floods of Fire initiative at Adelaide Festival 2024, and designed by Laurence Walker, Daniel Pitman and Tristan Louth-Robins.
Participants moved around an area within an octophonic speaker array, while an evolving abstract soundscape unfolded around them. The sounds of local sea grass meadows made up the basis of the piece, but these recordings were manipulated algorithmically based on the positions of audience members throughout the space.
As the work progressed over a 10 minute duration, the sounds of the sea grass meadows slowly devolved into distorted electronic noise, and then eventually silence. To illustrate the existential threat that human interference can pose to secluded environments, the speed of this progression was determined by the number of participants and the speed of their movements.
A projected visualisation underlined this connection, with a cyan background slowly shifting to blotchy yellow in areas where participants spent more time.
The projected visualisation about halfway through the installation's progression
Floods of Fire signage
Floods of Fire schedule, featuring three performances of Seagrass Immersion in the bottom centre
Laurence Walker managing the interactive system on the day