Binaural audio installation
“[T]he world, the very emblem of all that is solid, moves beneath our feet like a crust over a fluid; one second of time conveys to the mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of reflection would never create.” Charles Darwin, Beagle Diary.
Earth Traces is a series of works based on seismometer recordings of earthquakes, ocean-and weather-induced microseisms, and human and animal activity. The audification process involves transposing the seismic data to the human hearing range by playing the wave forms at an accelerated rate. The application of various spectral manipulation techniques creates an interplay between tonal and noise content of the data, revealing suspenseful sonic landscapes of subterranean processes as a slow-listening experience.
The works were created in collaboration with seismologists at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and University of Cambridge led by Prof Sergei Lebedev.
David Stalling is a sound artist working with acoustic and electronic sound, field recordings and scientific data, often focusing on the relationship between the human, the natural world, and technology. He studied Music Composition at Maynooth University, Ireland. His works have been presented in Ireland and internationally. Recent projects included Assembly (2025), the Ireland pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale; Prelude, Eruption, Tremor, Sleep (2025) at Magma Rising, Heong Gallery, Cambridge, UK; all these words (from Beckett’s The Unnamable) (2021-22) at Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin; Under the Feet of Shadows (2024) by EL Putnam and Mike McCormack at MART Gallery, Dublin, and 18th Street Arts Centre, Santa Monica, CA.
Webpage: www.davidstalling.com
Instagram: @stalling.david
On view from September 26. until October 11. at: HAUNT
RELATED EVENTS
Symposium: David Stalling and Prof Sergei Lebedev October 3, 2 pm / Flutgraben – Projektraum
Click here for infos >
Photo: Earthquake audification, David Stalling © 2021