As a participant you can therefore observe which sounds a plant produces, but also hear how a plant influences music. And not only that, by becoming part of the circuit yourself, you as participant influence the sound that is produced. In this way you work, as it were, with the plant and the machine to generate sounds that, if you do it right, are music to your ears.
Interactions with plants
Together with art-researchers Christiaan Zwanikken and Marc Marc, Frese developed the installation to enable different interactions with plants. The plant machine at Lowlands has been developed to be able to read very precisely the sound that plants produce themselves. Frese: ‘’Electric signals run continuously through plants, which can be converted into tones. These will be shrill tones, or lower tones. In addition, electrical pulses in the form of danceable music can also be given as input. The plant will respond to that and when we read that, you can hear how the music changes.’’
The researchers hope that this will allow people to experience what it is like to be part of a collaboration between nature, technology and people. “You are really an electronic part of the synthesizer through the plant,” says Frese. 'Participants can also touch the plant, for example, to see if that affects the sound.'
Intersection between art and science
The research is part of a so-called artscience project, which focuses on the intersection of art and science. Frese and colleagues therefore want to know how the participants experience the system, so that they learn how artscience can best be brought out. The researchers are therefore not there to examine the plants themselves, but to show what they have made and to learn from it.
‘’Since our method crosses the boundaries of both science and art and thus enters a new area, I think we should also measure the effect the experience has on the participant in an innovative way. We don't know exactly how we are going to do that yet, but we are now thinking about expressing emotions and thoughts on a canvas, for example.’’ The experiences are also recorded on film and audio and the participants are observed and questioned to map out their experience.
Lowlands Science Lab can be visited from 18 to 20 August during the festival in Biddinghuizen.