information aesthetics

a physical installation that tracks the fish in a water lake & translates their movement into an audio-visual experience. visitors can listen to the fish composing their very own soundscape whilst watching an animated representation of what is happening under the water of a 9 meter tall steel cylindrical silo.
16 fish have bio-acoustic tags implanted that enable their positions to be tracked by an array of six hydrophones as the tags emit a signal every two seconds. each fish within a species has specific sounds that are triggered in response to an activity. if the fish swims or rotates (or both) those sounds are played, if it becomes the fastest or slowest swimmer it plays its fast or slow sound. if the fish becomes popular (if it is calculated to be the fish surrounded by the most neighbours) or unpopular, it plays one of those sounds.
the visuals are also reflecting the activities of the fish. the most popular inflates its outer ego (or aura), the least popular one's ego shrinks. the color switching speeds up or slows down as the speed of the fish changes. the size of the fish is linked directly to the actual size; the colour sets are from photographs of the fish. [juliefreeman.co.uk]