Seeing Sound: Visualizing The Invisible

Horizontal Intervention (2010): aluminum, arduino, piezo (rotated view)

Made of metals like aluminum and brass, Byoung Ho Kim creates structures of visible sound, engineering sleek sound sculptures that he unconventionally identifies as “products,” as opposed to artworks. By applying piezo disks and arduino boards, Kim uses electronic components to produce vibrations through frequency modulation, making his sculptures audible. His creations are musically functional as much as they are aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and because of their “utilitarian” nature and their intricate design and fabrication process, they tread the line between “product” and art object.

Resonating the rhythms of experimental composer John Cage, the artist experiments with sound art by uniting the non-material characteristics of sound with a concrete visual medium. He accentuates the aura of sound by structuring it into a poignant stimulation of audiovisual synthaesthesia.

A Colloidal Body (2010): aluminum, arduino, piezo

For instance, in Colloidal Body, Kim fixates on the definition of colloid, the combination of two distinctly insoluble elements, conveying the fusion of sound with objects and emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between the medium and the message.

An Interface (2010): brass, arduino, piezo

Intersecting the divergence between intention and interpretation, Kim materially toys with Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s creed, “the medium is the message,” as his understated sculptures seem to carry no further content, but on the contrary, convey sound as well as form.

[Photos: Arario Gallery]