Hearing Geoelectric
Geological minerals (such as copper, quartz and mica) are embedded in audio circuits and conversely geological processes are teeming with electrical activity. Power grids and Integrated circuits could be described as important waypoints in the domestication of lightning. Advanced methods of geo-sensing and globally coordinated sensor networks are currently plumbing Earth attributes by way of its signals: By way of electrical transduction (vibrations converted into electrical fluctuations) or by directly tapping into ground conductivity (telluric current monitoring and geoelectrical methods). Our growing awareness of earthly variations in voltage manifest a complex intertwining of the geologic, the electric and the technic. What are the terrestrial contexts of audio circuits and conversely what electrical circuitry is at work in geology? What does Earth's circuitry sound like? How can such geoelectric hearing redress the binaries of 'natural' and 'technical' in particular with respect to recordings overt mimetic properties? This research aims to develop non-standard tools for environmental voltage acquisition while looking into historical contexts of geoelectrical methods as a means of bridging the geological dimensions in electronic audio towards contemporary modes of environmental listening and hearing.
Author: Raviv Ganchrow
