Andrea Polli: Atmospherics/Weather Works
May 2004
Andrea Polli: Atmospherics/Weather Works
Atmospherics/Weather Works by Andrea Polli is an interactive system that sonifies weather patterns and meteorological events. Users can select different altitudes and geographic points to listen to data-driven audio generated by simulations of Hurricane Bob (1991) in the New York and Long Island area. Working in collaboration with meteorological and environmental scientists, Polli translated atmospheric data, such as pressure, humidity, temperature, and wind velocity, into sound materials including field recordings, insect and water sounds, and white noise. The resulting turbulent and evocative composition allows users to experience massive geographical phenomena on a human scale, offering deeper insight into the complex, unpredictable melodies and rhythms of nature.
The original Atmospherics/Weather Works is no longer online. This project was reconstructed using the Internet Archive.
Andrea Polli (b. 1968; Fort Benning, Georgia) is an environmental artist working at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Her interdisciplinary research has been presented as public artworks, media installations, community projects, performances, broadcasts, mobile and geolocative media, publications, and through the curation and organization of public exhibitions and events. She has presented public art in twenty-five locations and has had over twenty solo exhibitions at venues including the Parco Arte Vivente Museum, Turin, Italy. Polli’s work also has been presented in over one hundred group exhibitions at museums and galleries in Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, New York, Chicago, and Hong Kong. Her art and research have received major support from the National Endowment for the Arts (2012), the National Science Foundation (2012), and Fulbright (2011), among others. She co-edited the book Far Field: Digital Culture, Climate Change, and the Poles (2012) and authored Hack the Grid (2018).
Gate Pages
Every month from March 2001 to February 2006, the Whitney invited an artist or collective to present their work in the form of a “Gate Page” on artport. Each page was meant to function as a portal to the artist’s own sites and projects. The Gate Pages comprise a range of artistic approaches to the format—while some of them are designed as entry points to the respective artist’s website or promote a recently launched work, others take the form of a more complex stand-alone project.
Wherever necessary and possible, these works are made functional through emulation and reconstructions from the Internet Archive. Not all of them have been restored to their original state and their conservation is ongoing. You can also view the original Gate Pages archive to see how they were presented at the time of their creation.
artport
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