GSMson
Like many artists, I’m interested in electromagnetic wave phenomena. Cell phone towers (i.e., base stations) are ubiquitous, and, for GSM, send waves in the 16.7 and 33.4 centimeter range over the city. These waves get reflected and absorbed, diffracted and interfered with. Virtually the same mechanisms are in place for these waves as for visible light, which allows us to see the space we’re inhabiting and record it with a camera. Because waves behave differently depending on their length or frequency, I was curious how we would perceive a city under the much longer wavelength of GSM signals. To that end, I experimented with turning the signal strengths of several nearby cell phone towers into sound.
In 2006, I used a modified Nokia 3310 cell phone to determine individual
signal strength readings for each adjacent base station. The phone was
interfaced using a PureData (PD) external that I wrote for this purpose.
I also mapped my studio using this technique.
In 2009, I started using a modified Nintendo DS game console to read the signal strength and generate sound from it.