Derck Littel

The Sonic Kitchen

Listening to Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF) places you in an ambient sonic array, an unnoticed but structured arrangement of frequencies – with respect to a point of observation – in which radiation provides information on the environment.

All electronic devices emit EMF. This radiation can be made audible in a musical way with a portable tool I designed, the SoundSniffer. EMF radiation is absorbed by the body, in the exhibition metaphorically represented as a kitchen.                                      

In this staged everyday setting participants are invited to use the device to explore the different sources of EMF, playing out a techno-centric narrative when listening at objects of sonic interest – such as electric kitchen utensils, neon lights, switches, the fridge, the microwave – and interact musically not only with the aural architecture of the electronic hyper-environment, but also with each other, as sound cannot be viewed simply in isolation. It is only meaningful in a social environment, when framed as part of a larger cybernetic system that includes humans.