Audio Graffiti¶

Audio Graffiti¶

Audio Grafitti en français

Overview:
Audio-Graffiti, shared sound and music environment, explores new modes of interaction with sound and space. Intelligent phone users can tag sounds recorded with their devices and pin them to locations in their environment, whether interior or exterior. This graffiti could include, for example, voice messages, music, etc. The user moves through the tagged space and experiences the changing sounds or a mix of the environmental graffiti.

In addition to hearing the graffiti, a function allows users to create graffiti synchronized to the prevailing rhythm and to musically collaborate. The audio graffiti in the space combines to form a dynamic sonic landscape that fades out slowly over time. The environment serves as a frame for this artistic and interpersonal exploration. The unique sonic perspective of each user allows active participation in the sound rendering (mixing and combining of sounds) of audio graffiti found in their path.

Origin:
Audio-Graffiti is constructed on the infrastructure of mobile social networks, the technologies of geolocalization (GPS, Google Earth, etc), and the audio rendering techniques of augmented reality applications. It was conveived by a partnership between Zack Settel and Mike Wozniewski at the Centre For Intelligent Machines at the University of McGill around the creation of the game Sound Park, in which mobile players search for hidden sounds in a park in downtown Montreal.

Innovation:
As is often the case with advanced social media techniques, the most significant innovations emerge from the interactions of participants within the space. The originality of the project

This allows the creation of rich and coherent sonic landscapes, offering a very high level of spatial resolution.

Results:
The project opens new applications for social networks and artistic creations that use sound and space for content and mode of transmission. The project allows multiple collaborations between the SAT's artists, notably for projects that enrich the urban experience in le Quartier des Spectacles (Montreal).

Researchers: Art: Zack Settel, Science: Mike Wozniewski

Year: 2010