TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE

Tree Tapping for VLF

Owen Chapman
Owen Chapman at Wave Farm

Owen Chapman at Wave Farm. Photographed by Lucy Bohnsack. (Oct 12, 2023)

Owen Chapman in the WGXC Acra Studio

Owen Chapman in the WGXC Acra Studio. Photographed by Lucy Bohnsack. (Oct 12, 2023)

Owen Chapman in Wave Farm's pine forest

Owen Chapman in Wave Farm's pine forest. Photographed by Lucy Bohnsack. (Oct 12, 2023)

Owen Chapman siting radios in a pine tree

Owen Chapman siting radios in a pine tree. Photographed by Lucy Bohnsack. (Oct 12, 2023)

Owen Chapman tunes in to tranmission from a tree

Owen Chapman tunes in to tranmission from a tree. Photographed by Lucy Bohnsack. (Oct 12, 2023)

Owen Chapman working with a VLF receiver

Owen Chapman working with a VLF receiver. Photographed by Lucy Bohnsack. (Oct 12, 2023)

Portrait of Owen Chapman at Wave Farm

Portrait of Owen Chapman at Wave Farm. Photographed by Lucy Bohnsack. (Oct 12, 2023)

Tree Tapping for VLF is an audio installation and performance system featuring Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio signals, collected via the use of trees as antennas. A selection of trees located at Wave Farm will be “tapped” as sources of VLF signals for sonification and audio mixing instead of sap for syrup production. Signals will be transduced into audio as well as control voltage inputs used to shape sounds generated by radiophonic synthesizers including the Theremin. This will allow for the alteration of audio effects or textures as well as the performance of improvised duets or concertos with the VLF flows being received by the more-than-human participants. Chapman anticipates that the strongest signals will be sources of "hum" from the local power and telecommunications grid but will also strive to tune into “spherics,” or VLF activity caused by lightning in distant parts of the world. Such encounters underscore the profound yet inaudible forms of noise that humans generate. Trees manifest this reality in their sap, in their veins. Selected audio outputs from the installation will be cut to polycarbonate disc in real-time using a portable lathe-cutting recorder–resulting in unique forms of sonic documentation that mimic the visual facets of rings in a tree stump.