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Sonic Pixels @ Barton Arcade

November 4, 2018

Sonic Pixels v2 was the next stage iteration of Cornbrook Creative (of which I was a core member) & James Medd’s interactive sound artwork first developed in 2017. It was a follow-up mini-commission for Manchester Science Festival 2018 (MSF) funded by Arts Council England.

We developed, extended and deployed Sonic Pixels – 24 overhead, remote-controlled, mini-speakers arranged in an 3×8 grid that like pixels on a screen allows us to ‘draw’, ‘paint’ and ‘animate’ with sound – in a unique city centre public space, the stunning Victorian iron and glass shopping mall, Barton Arcade – via a Preview event (Fri, 26 Oct, 6-10.30pm) and a two-day exhibition (Sat, 27 – Sun, 28 Oct 2018, 10am-10.30pm).

The project allowed us to:

  • realise next stage technical development of the system through a collaboration with the CodeBug physical computing and education project;
  • invite contributions from three regional sound artists drawn from our extended network – Jaydev Mistry, Gemma Nash and The Owl Project;
  • devise and run ’hands-on’ workshops for children with complex learning needs from Hawthorns Primary Academy;
  • realise site-specific, artistic interventions into the venue – by day (10am-6pm) as a ‘sonic backdrop’ to everyday activity and by night (6-10.30pm) as a live performance system and interactive sound art installation accessible to the general public;
  • and achieve a unique, high-profile showcase for the artwork as part of MSF18.

Andrew Robinson, CodeBug project leader, redesigned the units’ electronics – replacing the first version’s DFPlayer MP3 & 3W audio amplifier modules and a BBC micro::bit mounted on a custom-made PCB with a bespoke module based on his CodeBug Connect. Each unit could now connect to a dedicated WiFi network and be triggered in various ways via Open Sound Control (OSC) messages. This update significantly improved on the first iteration which though it explored the latent potential of the BBC micro::bit had just about reached that microcontrollers operational limits. James Medd updated the iPad control interface and Python ‘middleware’ running on a Raspberry Pi 3+ B accordingly.

More details about as well as documentation of the project can be found on the Sonic Pixels website.