“AURALROOTS” by Jill Scott

Title:

AURALROOTS

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Exhibiting Artist(s):

Jill Scott -

Zurich University of the Arts

Symposium:

ISEA2024: 29th International Symposium on Electronic Art

Venue(s):

QUT Creative Industries Precinct, The Block, Brisbane, Australia

Artist Statement:

This document and touchscreen from AURALROOTS show how audiences were encouraged to explore their tactile and aural sensory perception by engaging with oral histories within an immersive art installation. This interactive project shows how visitors were scaled down to 5 nanometres to interact with 24 hanging sculptures to trigger three various sonic compositions. The sculptural forms are inspired by the functions, behaviour and forms of stereocilia, tiny inner and outer hair cells on our auditory nerves located in the organ of Corti in the cochlea. Through AURALROOTS, art researcher, Jill Scott explores how sound and memory are related to the healthy conditions of our environment and the ways we learn inside three sonic environments: hearing in the womb, oral histories from First Nation elders in the landscape and experimenting in the audiology lab. These three compositions are based on low, medium and high frequencies. For example, in the mid frequency, AURALROOTS reveals oral history stories from traditional aboriginal cultures about the healing benefits of wild plants and roots. The overall aim is to explore learning through touch, sound and embodiment. AURALROTS is part of a large series of work called Neuro_Eco_Media -interactive art projects about sensory perception and environmental science.