Size Scale
Audiovisual research
about zooming and sample speed
When a wave is repeated with very high frequency our perception of it will be often limited to the pitch of its frequency. Most of the time the timbral character will be lost because the complex nuances won’t be grasped by the listener at high speed. Scale/Size is an exploration in the analogy that could be drawn between optically zooming in with a microscope and the effect of slowing down a complex waveform: in both cases more details will be revealed.
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The projection shows the optical movement of zooming further and further into a sample below the microscope from 0% to 1200% magnification. The sounds heard during this movement are the optical samples at 1200% and 0% magnification which are then converted into a waveform and this sound is gradually slowed down the more the camera moves into the object and then in reverse when the camera moves out again.
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During zooming in and out / speeding up and down the visual and sound are unclear by insufficient focus and distortion through sample speed change. Only on the right points when movement is close to static we can perceive clearly. In this way both microscope and sampler have to use the correct focus.
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Size scale is an adaptive concept which can be presented in different frames for diverse audiences and will change with the samples provided (both optically and visually).
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The iteration of size scale presented today is on textiles as they partially resemble a clishe of zooming in: fractals, as seen in madelbrot fractal zooms where a mathematical equation is visualized. Outside of a simulation our capabilities of perceiving something up close are limited by the optical instruments at hand. Textiles are ever common in our world but are mostly seen from a distance and their intricate structures remain unseen.