www.robertjarvis.co.uk/echolocation
The first of four extracts from my touring Echolocation sound installation - a live ‘happening’ that uses the ultrasonic radar broadcast by bats as they fly around of an evening in search of food.  By making use of a series of strategically placed bat detectors, the installation is able to pick up the bats’ calls, extrapolate the musical information therein, and then use this data to control an algorithmic score.  The result is a multi-channel composition that is played to a listening audience in ‘real time’, allowing them to hear the ever-changing detail in the bat calls as well as see the mammals fly in search of their evening meal.  Echolocation was shortlisted for the 2008 New Music Award, and since then has been ‘performed’ in both the UK and abroad.

Echolocation1

A short composition originally created as part of a residency at 'La Cité des Insectes', in Limousin, France, during the summer of 2007. Since then, the piece has been featured as a permanent sound installation, and plays daily to the museum's visitors. The work was also featured as part of the 'Des Insectes et des Hommes' exhibition in Limoges, at the Oxford Botanic Garden's 'Magic Hour' event and also at Marine Studios, in Margate. In October 2009 it was shortlisted for the British Composer Awards Sonic Art category.

Echolocation1

robertjarvis

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