This is the most complex project I’ve done for Museum Victoria to date, again commissioned by Ben Landau. The exhibit is an adaptation of one developed for Questacon (in Canberra) designed to allow children to explore practical applications of the concept of measurement in a fun, jungle themed setting. As part of the rethink of the exhibit the idea of making it a more immersive environment emerged, which is where I came in. My job was to create a sonic environment that evoked a cartoon jungle, with the condition that it would not send the poor people in the adjacent gift shop crazy from having to listen to something too repetitive. My strategy: create something fun and slightly over the top that incorporates a diverse range of animal sounds and a selection of stereotypical “jungle” drumbeats, which dynamically assembles itself out of a number of component bits. The delivery system was designed in Max/MSP, wherein a number of channels dedicated to classes of sounds (ambience, insects, monkeys, birds, etc.) randomly select from a given repertoire of samples, randomly setting volume, panning, and length of pause before the selection of a new sample and reset of all parameters, rendering an exact repetition of a convergence of sounds across the 6 channels nigh on impossible, and sounding rich, hyper-real, and fun. Make the trip to Spotswood and check it and the rest of Scienceworks’ fascinating bits out. Highly recommended for those with kids.

Measure Island at Scienceworks