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FLAT EARTH SOCIETY

------------------------------------------------------------------- FLAT EARTH SOCIETY------------------------------------------------------------------- Artist...............: Art of Failure Title................: Flat Earth Society Year.................: 2008 - 2011... Type.................: Earth elevation dataTechnique............: 12 inch stereo vinyl Label................: Art Kill Art - AKA 08 Cutting..............: Flo Kaufmann Pressing.............: r.a.n.d musik Genre................: Digital to analog conversion Source...............: SRTM / GTOPO 30 / NasaFile Shadowing.......: Art Of Failure - 01/04/2008 Data Resolution......: 16 bit per km Sampling rate........: 24000Hz per second Stereo separation....: 10 km of earth surfaceGroove separation....: 20 km of earth surface Groove sizes.........: Width 200 μm, depth 200 μm Process application..: Pd-extended, Matlab, Protools Supports.............: ECM Gantner, Art Kill Art Url..................: http://fes.artoffailure.org -------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAT EARTH SOCIETY[SIDE A]

--NORTHERN

HEMISPHERE’STOPOGRAPHY

FLAT EARTH SOCIETY[SIDE B]

--SOUTHERN

HEMISPHERE’STOPOGRAPHY

HISTORICAL CONTEXT-------------------------------------------------------------------

- The cartography of the earth- The exploration of space- The globalization of market- The communication technologies- The World Wide Web

= All those elements conduct to a global thinking and change our mental approach and representation of the earth.

«Conquest of space would not have been possible without the products of perspectivisim, accurate maps and representations of the actual terrain, which allowed the observer to occupy an externalized perspective in which the globe could be viewed as a knowable totality.» (Purser)

-------------------------------------------------------------------Title................: FLAT_EARTH_SOCIETY [2008-2011]Type.................: Elevation data transposed on a record-------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAT_EARTH_SOCIETY proposes a transposition of the earth elevation at the scale of a microgroove record. Each side of the 33 rpm is a transfer of an hemisphere. This engraving of elevation’s data on the surface of the disk generates in consequence a subtle image of the earth. A standard turntable can read this relief. While playing, the chain of elevation data crossed by the needle can be heard. With every rotation of the disk, we can recognize patterns corresponding to the relief of the crossed continents.

HOW IT WAS MADE-------------------------------------------------------------------

- The Earth elevation data from the NASA’s databases are converted into an accurate audio waveform using the Pure Data program.(#1,2)

- This sound file is directly engraved on a dubplate (record) using a modified record lathe.(#3,4)

4. groove under a microscope

2. audio waveform

3. the needle cutting the groove

1. Earth elevation, 3d view

The title comes from:THE FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [1492 B.C -> TODAY] An organization that seeks to further the belief that the Earth is flat.

This project is not so much a scientific, design or musical study. It is rather considered as an activator - of analogies - of imaginary fields - or mental representations

FLAT EARTH SOCIETY MODIFIED TURNTABLE

--RECORD SLOWED DOWN

AT HALF A DAY PER SIDE

exhibition view / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

exhibition view / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

exhibition view - discs and video / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [SIDE A]

--RECORD ON A

STANDARD TURNTABLE

video still / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

« Can we hear the Earth? Not the sounds occurring upon it but the Earth on a geophysical scale?[...] The hill-and-dale technique was used in Edison’s phonograph, recording sound with a stylus that vertically cut a minute landscape into the grooves of the cylinder.[...] Flat earth society takes readings from the stylus of topographic radar, cuts them into vinyl and then plays them back with a stylus. Phonographic hills-and-dales grow into the Alps, Andes, Himalayas, Grand Canyon, Great Steppe, Great Rift Valley, Great Outback and the Lesser Antilles. Where Enrico Caruso and Nellie Melba once sang one hears the Baja Peninsula, Antarctic Peninsula, and the bathymetric pauses of the Red Sea and Baffin Bay.[...] Peaks and valleys, spikes and wells, spires and troughs, aspirations and depressions, all have their gradations in mythical and actual landscapes. »

Douglas Kahn 2011

-------------------------------------------------------------------Project..............: FLAT_EARTH_SOCIETYUrl..................: fes.artoffailure.orgCollective...........: ART OF FAILUREUrl..................: artoffailure.org@....................: artoffailure@free.fr-------------------------------------------------------------------