UC Santa Cruz

"Resonant Waves: Immersed in Geometry" is an interactive, multisensory cymatic experience. This work engages with sound, basic sine waves, and how sound naturally forms up into intricate, often symmetrical geometric patterns when passed through a medium, such as water, within a boundary condition.

Presented as a multimedia art installation in the 2019 UCSC Digital Arts and New Media MFA Exhibition titled "Receivership", which ran from April 20, 2019 - May 12, 2019, Resonant Waves consisted of several components: a live demonstration of wave patterns formed by sound passing through water in a 3" petri dish, speakers which allowed the same sound to be heard in the space, a 4' circular projection screen on which the wave activity in the water dish was being captured by a camera and displayed, and a seat with controls in the arms for the viewer to interact with & influence the sound being generated that also vibrated at the same frequency as the water. The viewer was simultaneously hearing, feeling, and seeing - through patterns that the sound would generate in the water in the dish which was projected onto the screen - the same exact frequency.

This paper describes the project in great detail both conceptually and technically and reveals the many iterations and changes from the original idea to the version that was presented in the Receivership exhibition, holding true to the essential goals throughout, as well as my prior works, motivations, inspirations, and a brief survey of its historical and aesthetic context.