Surface tension : cymatic visualisations of coastal data

Greg Hughes’ “Surface Tension” is the result of cymatic experimentation in visualising data sourced from the dynamics of the local Wollongong coastal environment. Mean sea level and coastal wave data is combined and transposed into audio signal phasing and traced in the surface waves of a built micro liquid environment. The layering of data and resultant collisions form combinations of what in physics are known as standing, constructive, destructive and harmonic surface wave phenomena. In multiscreen video format, the recorded trace of data normally destined for applied scientific analysis, becomes an affective visual expression of coastal change. “Surface Tension” does not seek to replace scientific mapping or compete with new modelling developments, but offers an alternate method to invigorate coastal environmental discussion from a gallery context. It is a reminder of our position in a much bigger system—in the natural environment, how we try to control it and how we represent it. “Surface Tension” is a work-in-progress exhibition featuring the nascent stage of a continuing series of experimentations. In conjunction with cymatic data visualisations, the research is also concerned with the potential of hybrid digital and analogue modes of media reproduction. In featuring digitally deployed data and its reproduced analogue reaction a space is afforded for the layering of complex digital means and the qualities of matter. Future developments in the research are targeted at new ways to organise, categorise and layer visual outcomes to seek new information and practice-led knowledge from data collision and material experimentation. To achieve this, the built microenvironment generated for this exhibition will become a more applied analogue simulation of coastal conditions.