Hearing Geoelectric by Raviv Ganchrow

Geological minerals (such as copper, quartz and mica) are embedded in audio circuits and conversely geological processes are teeming with electrical activity. Power grids and Integrated circuits could be described as important waypoints in the domestication of lightning. Advanced methods of geo-sensing and globally coordinated sensor networks are currently plumbing Earth attributes by way of its signals: By way of electrical transduction (vibrations converted into electrical fluctuations) or by directly tapping into ground conductivity (telluric current monitoring and geoelectrical methods). Our growing awareness of earthly variations in voltage manifest a complex intertwining of the geologic, the electric and the technic. What are the terrestrial contexts of audio circuits and conversely what electrical circuitry is at work in geology? What does Earth's circuitry sound like? How can such geoelectric hearing redress the binaries of 'natural' and 'technical' in particular with respect to recordings overt mimetic properties? This research aims to develop non-standard tools for environmental voltage acquisition while looking into historical contexts of geoelectrical methods as a means of bridging the geological dimensions in electronic audio towards contemporary modes of environmental listening and hearing.

Messene ground power-mains irregular hum,

00:00:04, 28 May, 2018

Audio-Frequency Tellurics,

100 m Dipole, ancient Messene, Greece

Messene ground power-mains irregular hum with delayed and inverted cycle filter

00:00:04, 28 May, 2018

Audio-Frequency Tellurics,

100 m Dipole, ancient Messene, Greece

Add text: inverse filter considerations and design

Site-specific voltage acquisition

Add text: irregular power-mains hum description

Agora Circuit, dipole electrode placement. A magnetic anomaly was discovered when placing the dipole on-site. There was a discrepancy between the north-orientation indicated on the map of Messene and the measured magnetic north. Final dipole placement was aligned to the actual conditions on-site in order to render the largest dynamic range of telluric currents.

Agora Circuit, Telluric dipole electrodes in-situ

Cable-winds for telluric current acquisition

Left: Messene ground power-mains hum,

Single-cycle, 0.02 sec (50 Hz cycle AC)

Right: Messene ground power-mains hum,

Single-cycle, 0.02 sec (50 Hz cycle AC)

With delayed and inverted cycle

Messene ground power-mains irregular hum waveform

Work-in-progress

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