Bon Marche Theatre, University of Technology Sydney, November 2010
by Sarah-Leith Izzard, Karin Senff and Rollerchimp

In response to the overbearing noise of building construction which plagued the University of Technology, Sydney during the year 2010, Sonic Destruction transforms this sonic pollution into a beautifully foreboding and distopian surround sound composition and dynamic sculpture.  Construction noises were recorded at a series of building sites surrounding the university. These sounds became the sonic palette for the fifteen minute long soundscape composed by Sarah-Leith in an 8.1 channel surround sound format.  Ferrofluid was used to build dynamic sculptural forms in response to this sonic composition, thus transforming the noise pollution from an unwanted by-product of building construction on a macro level into it’s own generative seed of construction at the micro level.The soundscape was interpreted by a custom Max/MSP program which drove a number of electromagnets via an Arduino micro-controller and electronic circuits hand built by Karin Senff and Andrew Bluff (aka Rollerchimp).  Ferrofluid is an oil which contains minuscule iron particles which react to the magnetic fields generated by the electromagnets, forming fluid three dimensional structures in response to the sound composition.