Water Balloon: Composition for a Prairie Landscape

Lorraine Oades and Cristobal Urbina

Water balloon: Composition for a Prairie Landscape is a stereo version of an eight speaker soundwork made up of natural frequencies that occur when you rub a wet finger across the rim of a crystal vessel filled with water. The audio vibrations created by this continual circular motion result in the production of oscillating sine waves that are at times pure in tone and at times contaminated by the slip-stick motion of the finger against the rim - sounding more like a violin tuning up or two balloons rubbing against one another. Because all the sounds are analog they seem to emanate from within the environment in which they are played, creating a quietly disturbing soundtrack that rises up from the landscape and combines naturally with the other acoustic events that take place there.

The stereo version of Water Balloon: Composition for a Prairie Landscape was part of a sound exhibition entitled Drive-In, curated by Tulle Ruth Koefoed-Jespersen, Olso, Norway.