A spectrograph is selected as the representation of the sound. Spectrographs bring together in a single image all sound contained in the recording. Its representation is already bestowed with a certain spatial quality that makes it a very interesting form with which to work.
In the project, the spectrograph is considered a cartography to the space of sound, therefore becoming the site of the project. It is the map of the sound space. Once the site is given, it needs to be rationalised and apprehended. This is done by rationalizing and appropriating this cartography through a “traditional” grid. Distributed purely out of the image constraints and dimensions, now it is possible to apply this grid to all spectrographs, unifying what at first glance seemed like an odd amalgam of human voices and dreams.
A further step, to decode the image. RGB colour space is chosen to extract information from the spectrographs. At every cross of the grid, RGB values are extracted. From an original sound, now there is an array of RGB data values. This array is fed into Rhino Grasshopper, a 3D application, used for the modeling and manufacturing of objects. Here the data will be exposed to manipulations. In the realm of 3D manufacturing, dimensioning becomes imperative, steering an abstraction towards reality.
The manipulations in Rhino Grasshopper are as much part to do with the designer’s whim as with the limits of the materiality that the project is gradually taking. But the generated values and the way they relate to each other indicate their origin and the recording of peoples’ voices and dreams. It is therefore possible to retrace the steps to the sound they come from. Under this reassurance, a freedom to manipulate is somehow granted through the anchoring to the past, while at the same time creating a future.
