Listening to the Ocean on a Shore of Gypsum Sand is a collaboration with Phillip Stearns and Dan Tesene investigating the sonic properties of real and imagined seashells. The seashells are algorithmically designed in custom software written in Processing and fabricated by printing and binding thin layers of gypsum powder.
In Phil’s words, the “project questions the role of experience in the mediation of the virtual world to the real world and visa versa.” The software allows the generation of both real shells found in the seas, and ones unobserved in nature.
The design application models the formation of Mollusc seashells and generates printable meshes. The model is based on a paper by Jorge Picado and incorporates a number of custom modifications deforming the surface and orientation of the shells. The original design program and usage instructions are freely available. The designs exported into meshes by the software are then fabricated by printing and binding thin layers of gypsum powder.
The project was on display in September 2012 at Soundwalk in Long Beach, Los Angeles, CA. Below are some of the shells; a full gallery can be found here.
Screenshots of the modeling software:
