Living Wall is an installation collecting, recomposing and playing sonic memories. The computational processes that take place are displayed on 3000 white LEDs.

Microphones record fragments of human interaction. Each fragment is then analysed using an adaptive sound categorization technique, determining its relation to previously stored clips.

The network of sound clips is reorganized in real time as new fragments are recorded and connections between previously stored clips are elaborated. Fragments with similar perceptual qualities are grouped in clusters and dissimilar clips are separated from each other. As time goes by the network evolves into a rich mass of information with complex interconnections.

Recomposed sequences of sound are played back into the space by walking through the network of sonic memories. The sounds are distributed into the space based on a mapping from the network position to a position in the room. For the developers, this behaviour is parallel to the behaviour of how we associate ideas.

By Åsmund Gamlesaeter and Alexander Berman.

Living Wall is a permanent installation at Studentersamfundet in Trondheim, Norway.

Via Rhizome.