TEDGlobal 2009
Evan Grant: Making sound visible through cymatics
Filmed:
Readability: 4.9
980,010 views
Evan Grant demonstrates the science and art of cymatics, a process for making soundwaves visible. Useful for analyzing complex sounds (like dolphin calls), it also makes complex and beautiful designs.
Evan Grant - Creative technologist
Evan Grant works with cymatics, the art of visualizing sound, and is the founder of the arts and technology collective seeper. Full bio
Evan Grant works with cymatics, the art of visualizing sound, and is the founder of the arts and technology collective seeper. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:18
I'm a creative technologist
0
0
2000
00:20
and the focus of my work is on public installations.
1
2000
5000
00:25
One of my driving passions
2
7000
3000
00:28
is this idea of exploring nature,
3
10000
2000
00:30
and trying to find hidden data within nature.
4
12000
2000
00:32
It seems to me that there is
5
14000
3000
00:35
this latent potential everywhere, all around us.
6
17000
2000
00:37
Everything gives out some kind of data,
7
19000
2000
00:39
whether it's sound or smell or vibration.
8
21000
3000
00:42
Through my work, I've been
9
24000
2000
00:44
trying to find ways to harness and unveil this.
10
26000
4000
00:48
And so this basically led me to
11
30000
3000
00:51
a subject called cymatics.
12
33000
2000
00:53
Now, cymatics is the process of visualizing sound
13
35000
5000
00:58
by basically vibrating a medium such as sand or water,
14
40000
4000
01:02
as you can see there.
15
44000
2000
01:04
So, if we have a quick look at the history of cymatics
16
46000
3000
01:07
beginning with the observations of resonance,
17
49000
2000
01:09
by Da Vinci, Galileo, the English scientist Robert Hook
18
51000
4000
01:13
and then Ernest Chladni.
19
55000
2000
01:15
He created an experiment using a metal plate,
20
57000
3000
01:18
covering it with sand and then bowing it
21
60000
3000
01:21
to create the Chladni patterns that you see here on the right.
22
63000
5000
01:26
Moving on from this, the next person to explore this field
23
68000
3000
01:29
was a gentleman called Hans Jenny in the 1970s.
24
71000
2000
01:31
He actually coined the term cymatics.
25
73000
3000
01:34
Then bringing us into the present day
26
76000
2000
01:36
is a fellow collaborator of mine
27
78000
2000
01:38
and cymatics expert, John Stewart Reed.
28
80000
3000
01:41
He's kindly recreated for us
29
83000
2000
01:43
the Chladni experiment.
30
85000
2000
01:45
What we can see here is
31
87000
2000
01:47
the metal sheet, this time connected to a sound driver
32
89000
3000
01:50
and being fed by a frequency generator.
33
92000
2000
01:52
As the frequencies increase,
34
94000
2000
01:54
so do the complexities of the patterns that appear on the plate.
35
96000
3000
01:57
As you can see with your own eyes.
36
99000
5000
02:02
(Applause)
37
104000
4000
02:06
So, what excites me about cymatics?
38
108000
3000
02:09
Well, for me cymatics is an almost magical tool.
39
111000
3000
02:12
It's like a looking glass into a hidden world.
40
114000
4000
02:16
Through the numerous ways that we can apply cymatics,
41
118000
3000
02:19
we can actually start to unveil the substance of things not seen.
42
121000
5000
02:24
Devices like the cymascope, which you can see here,
43
126000
2000
02:26
have been used to scientifically observe cymatic patterns.
44
128000
4000
02:30
And the list of scientific applications is growing every day.
45
132000
3000
02:33
For example, in oceanography,
46
135000
3000
02:36
a lexicon of dolphin language is actually being created
47
138000
3000
02:39
by basically visualizing the sonar beams that the dolphins emit.
48
141000
3000
02:42
And hopefully in the future we'll be able to gain some deeper understanding
49
144000
3000
02:45
of how they communicate.
50
147000
2000
02:47
We can also use cymatics for healing and education.
51
149000
2000
02:49
This is an installation developed with school children,
52
151000
2000
02:51
where their hands are tracked. It allows them
53
153000
2000
02:53
to control and position cymatic patterns
54
155000
2000
02:55
and the reflections that are caused by them.
55
157000
3000
02:58
We can also use cymatics as a beautiful natural art form.
56
160000
3000
03:01
This image here is created from a snippet
57
163000
3000
03:04
of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony playing through a cymatic device.
58
166000
4000
03:08
So it kind of flips things on its head a little bit.
59
170000
3000
03:11
This is Pink Floyd's "Machine"
60
173000
2000
03:13
playing in real time through the cymascope.
61
175000
3000
03:21
We can also use cymatics as a looking glass into nature.
62
183000
3000
03:24
And we can actually recreate the archetypal forms of nature.
63
186000
3000
03:27
So, for example, here on the left we can see a snowflake as it would appear in nature.
64
189000
4000
03:31
Then on the right we can see a cymatically created snowflake.
65
193000
3000
03:34
And here is a starfish and a cymatic starfish.
66
196000
2000
03:36
And there is thousands of these.
67
198000
2000
03:38
So what does this all mean?
68
200000
2000
03:40
Well, there is still a lot to explore
69
202000
3000
03:43
in its early days. And there's not many people working in this field.
70
205000
2000
03:45
But consider for a moment that sound does have form.
71
207000
4000
03:49
We've seen that it can affect matter and cause form within matter.
72
211000
4000
03:53
Then sort of take a leap and think about the universe forming.
73
215000
4000
03:57
And think about the immense sound of the universe forming.
74
219000
3000
04:00
And if we kind of ponder on that, then perhaps
75
222000
2000
04:02
cymatics had an influence on the formation of the universe itself.
76
224000
5000
04:07
And here is some eye candy for you, from a range of
77
229000
2000
04:09
DIY scientists and artists
78
231000
2000
04:11
from all over the globe.
79
233000
2000
04:13
Cymatics is accessible to everybody.
80
235000
2000
04:15
I want to urge everybody here to
81
237000
2000
04:17
apply your passion, your knowledge
82
239000
3000
04:20
and your skills to areas like cymatics.
83
242000
2000
04:22
I think collectively we can build a global community.
84
244000
3000
04:25
We can inspire each other.
85
247000
2000
04:27
And we can evolve this exploration
86
249000
2000
04:29
of the substance of things not seen. Thank you.
87
251000
2000
04:31
(Applause)
88
253000
4000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Evan Grant - Creative technologistEvan Grant works with cymatics, the art of visualizing sound, and is the founder of the arts and technology collective seeper.
Why you should listen
Evan Grant is a creative technologist and founder of arts and technology collective seeper. Founded in 1998, seeper's nucleus is the pursuit of cognitive essence: exploring natural user interaction and ubiquitous technologies, to create and distill artistically immersive, multisensory experiences and memories.
Evan has a heritage in sound, lighting and interaction, software and hardware, design and installation. Exploring multisensory immersion through the use of tangible, gestural and kinetic interaction, to allow a new range of interfaces devices and experiences for users.
In the past 12 months Evan has worked with the likes of Punch Drunk Theatricals, Glastonbury Festival, Hewlett Packard, BFI Southbank, Toyota, Aldeburgh Music, Sony PlayStation and many more innovative brands and arts-based organisations.
Evan Grant | Speaker | TED.com