Ohno, Mari. 2021. Composing with Matter: Interdisciplinary Explorations Between the Natural and the Artificial
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Ohno, Mari. 2021. Composing with Matter: Interdisciplinary Explorations Between the Natural and the Artificial. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis] https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/29971/ The version presented here may differ from the published, performed or presented work. Please go to the persistent GRO record above for more information. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Goldsmiths, University of London via the following email address: [email protected]. The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. For more information, please contact the GRO team: [email protected] Composing with Matter Interdisciplinary Explorations Between the Natural and the Artificial Mari Ohno Music Goldsmiths, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2020 1 Declaration I hereby declare that the work in this dissertation and the work presented in the accompanying portfolio have been carried out by myself except as otherwise specified. Signed, Mari Ohno January 2020 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Professor John Levack Drever and Dr Freida Abtan, and my external supervisor Dr Patricia Alessandrini at Stanford University for their support, knowledge, and guidance throughout the pathway of this research at Goldsmiths, University of London. I would like to acknowledge and thank the scientists and artists, Oron Catts and Dr Ionat Zurr at SymbioticA, the Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts at the University of Western Australia, Professor Anatoly Zayats and Dr Manasi Nandi at King’s College London, who all supported and collaborated with me for the practice in this research. Many thanks to my family and friends for their generous support and encouragement for me along the way. 3 Abstract This practice-based research, which includes a written thesis and a portfolio of creative practice, represents the interdisciplinary exploration of co-composition between natural and artificial matter as otherworldly phenomena. Accelerated by the application of recent technologies to control natural materials, matter has become merged between nature and artefacts, offering new potentials, where the boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred. This thesis presents a series of complementing sound art works, including transition [systemic], transition [characteristic], and moment, which were devised through co-composing towards a creative outcome that combines sonic and visual elements by integrating natural and artificial matter as co-authors and co-makers within the creative process to generate multiple perspectives. Raising questions of the boundary between nature and artificiality, it aims to consider a new methodology for sound art in the human-dominated, Anthropocene epoch. This research employs natural elements and processes to engage with sonic and visual anthropomorphism. It is focused on generative processes in the organisation of matter, here analysed and harnessed for sound expression, using acoustic phenomena including the inaudible range that can be perceived through matter. Through a laboratory-based study made in collaboration with scientists, three ‘life-like’ features of the generative processes of materials are discussed: 1) fusion and division, 2) network formation, and 3) pulse and rhythm. The practice explores these features to develop a new methodology of authorship and making, examining the following two questions. How can life-like behaviours of matter be portrayed through sonic and visual modes of expression? And in what ways might the expression of life-like behaviours be grasped by human perception? In conclusion, by 4 integrating the agency of matter into the compositional processes, life-like features – as described by current theories in art, design, science, and philosophy – are made apparent. 5 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. 4 List of Illustrations ................................................................................................................................ 7 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 9 2. Research Context ............................................................................................................................ 29 2-1. Matter in the Anthropocene ..................................................................................................... 29 2-2. Matter of Sound ....................................................................................................................... 45 2-3. Generative Processes of Matter ............................................................................................... 58 2-4. Summary .................................................................................................................................. 71 3. Practice ............................................................................................................................................ 76 3-1. Life-like Behaviours of Matter ................................................................................................ 76 3-2. Fusion and Division ................................................................................................................. 83 3-3. Network Formation ................................................................................................................ 100 3-4. Pulse and Rhythm .................................................................................................................. 118 4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 132 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 140 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................ 151 6 List of Illustrations Figure 1 bio effector, Mari Ohno and Kosuke Nagata (2012). Photo: Ryohei Tomita. ...................... 13 Figure 2 acoustic cluster, Mari Ohno (2013). Photo: Mari Ohno. ...................................................... 14 Figure 3 The five sound art works in relation to the three life-like behaviours. ................................. 26 Figure 4 The growing process of C2C12 cells, in my experiment at SymbioticA, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia. Observed with 200x magnification inverted microscope. The snapshots of the time-lapse recording by Mari Ohno (2016). ................................. 79 Figure 5 transition [systemic], Mari Ohno (2017). Photo: Ken Kato. Photo courtesy: Tokyo Arts and Space. .................................................................................................................................................. 85 Figure 6 transition [systemic], Mari Ohno (2017). Photo: Ken Kato. Photo courtesy: Tokyo Arts and Space. .................................................................................................................................................. 85 Figure 7 The stills from energy in motion, Mari Ohno (2016). .......................................................... 88 Figure 8 My studies of alternative photographic processes, Mari Ohno (2017). ................................ 94 Figure 9 transition [characteristic], Mari Ohno (2017). Photo: Ken Kato. Photo courtesy: Tokyo Arts and Space. ......................................................................................................................................... 101 Figure 10 transition [characteristic], Mari Ohno (2017). Photo: Ken Kato. Photo courtesy: Tokyo Arts and Space. .................................................................................................................................. 101 Figure 11 My experiment of crystal formation using sea salt, Himalayan pink salt, Celtic sea salt, and grey rock salt (2017). Photo: Mari Ohno. ......................................................................................... 105 Figure 12 The formation of sea salt crystals, in my experiment at Professor Anatoly Zayats’s Laboratory, at King’s College London. Observed with 20x magnification reflection microscope through a polariser. Snapshots of the time-lapse recording by Mari Ohno (2018). .......................... 109 Figure 13 The formation of magnesium sulfate crystals, in my experiment at Professor Anatoly Zayats’s Laboratory, at King’s College London. Observed with 20x magnification reflection microscope through a polariser. Snapshots of the time-lapse recording by Mari Ohno (2018). ...... 110 Figure 14 The nano gratings: grooves in gold-coated glass chips that I made, in collaboration with Professor Anatoly Zayats (2018). Photo: Mari Ohno. ...................................................................... 112 7 Figure 15 The images of the nano gratings recorded under white-light illumination. The frequency of the grooves in each grating is shown in respective images. In collaboration with Professor Anatoly Zayats. The pictures were taken by Mari Ohno at Professor Anatoly Zayats’s Laboratory, at King’s College London (2018). ...................................................................................................................