Bluenoise

Bluenoise is an ongoing curatorial research project investigating water and states of sound and listening. Past projects within the ambit this research have included the Blue Noise event held at The Walls art gallery in Miami, featuring a live performance with Scale Free Network and Marly Luske of microscopic water analysis from Tallebudgera Creek (2016), and producing Betty Apple’s underwater installation, 迷幻水鄉 Mirage City Under the Lake, in Tainan and Beitou as part of Liquid Architecture’s Entering Tone tour of Taiwan (2017). Danni’s current research concerns embodied listening with human and non-humans, with a focus on cetacean sound.

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In recent years, listening to certain colours of noise, like white and especially pink, has been popular with humans trying to concentrate and trying to sleep. Blue noise, with energy concentrated at the high end of the spectrum, sounds like the hiss of a spray of water, which is not thought to be particularly relaxing (as, for instance, oceanic rumbles of brown noise may be).

But it turns out that blue noise has other contemporary uses, which are chiefly technological. Originally developed in the 1990s as an innovative technique to enhance the printing of digital images, the concept of the ‘blue noise mask’ was then taken up in audio engineering: in both visual and audio processing, the strategic addition of a particular algorithm (blue noise) enables engineers to smooth out unwanted signals, obscuring distortion and producing a cleaner signal.

Like the blue noise in signal processing, bodies of water have an all-over pattern, and both the sight and sound of the ocean are widely found to be soothing. Listening to the ocean raises questions about contemporary signals and noise, as does the tactic of purposefully introducing noise to achieve greater harmony (Questions such as: What is the relationship between loudness and the relative charisma of a given marine species’ voice? Which stories do coastal narratives prioritise and which are muted? How does the medium of water shape our listening to the non-human other?). This project explores artistic research to initiate conversations about the politics of hydrophilia and aquatic ontologies.