An exploration of the relationship between touch and sound

This thesis serves as a written accompaniment for an interactive installation art project. In addition to a detailed description and evaluation of the other components of the project, it also features a number of abstract discussions on pertinent topics, and describes how the outcomes of these lines of research informed the final iteration of the installation.

The project is a sonic art installation that explores several concepts, uniting them to create an audience experience that is intended to be both novel and accessible. It deals with the experience of physical space and structure, and how it can be complemented sonically, emphasising and reimagining the structure with sound. The structure and generated sound are intrinsically linked, and this relationship is exploited to transform the perception of space for artistic effect. The installation also places heavy emphasis on collective interaction. All audience members experience the same sound (albeit from a different position and perspective), so their interactions all affect each other. The installation was designed to optimise this paradigm of interaction, and it is a point of interest to observe what happens in this regard. Complementary to the exploration of physical structure and space is experimentation with physical materials and how they can be expressed sonically. Since all of the sound in the piece has its foundation in sounds recorded by contact microphones attached to the materials that make up the structure, a relationship of some form is inherent, and further expression can be established by manipulating and transforming the sound.