Documentation 2019
Screen City Biennial X Son.AR
Augmented Sonic Navigation and Festival Guide App (v. 01)
Documentation 2019
Screen City Biennial X Son.AR
Augmented Sonic Navigation and Festival Guide App (v. 01)
Screen City Biennial 2019 X Son.AR
Team
Concept, Direction and Sound Design
Mote Studio (Davide Luciani and Fabio Perletta)
Production
Art Republic (Daniela Arriado)
Audio Developer and Spatial audio consultant
Jordan Juras
Developer
Mauro Ferrario
What is Son.AR?
Son.AR is the result of a collaboration between the Norwegian Art production platform Art Republic run by curator and producer Daniela Arriado - and Mote Studio, a Berlin-based studio run by Italian artists Davide Luciani and Fabio Perletta, whose practice addresses arts and sound. Together with spatial sound artist Jordan Juras, the group gathered to conceive a series of artworks and projects exploring public art and new practices and formats for sonic and media arts.
In 2019, they created the foundation of Son.AR.
Their first collaboration aimed to develop an innovative AR sonic-navigation application for mobile phones, dedicated to the fourth edition of Screen City Biennial in Stavenger, Norway. They combined navigation with augmented reality, dynamic music compositions, GPS location, rendering ambisonic virtual spaces into binaural sound experiences.
In 2020, Son.AR evolved into an artistic collective and curatorial-research project investigating the concept of virtuality, presence and embodiment in relation to sonic arts and public spaces.
More infos: http://www.artrepublic.no/project/sonar
How does it work?
The Screen City Biennial's App has developed a new way to surpass the limitations of stereo imagining and rendering ambisonic virtual spaces into binaural sound experiences for portable smartphone devices.
An advanced sound spatialisation algorithm leveraging 3D binaural imaging and location tracking allows users to interact with their environment by moving towards, around and away from the locations (sound objects).
This technology allows for sound cues to respond in real-time to their movements, and it is used to create an augmented sonic superposition of a physical map, simulating a virtual space in the users’ earphones. In SCB X Son.AR's app, the auditory sense is a central feature for the user experience and sound is rendered and listened with the simplicitiy a smartphone and a pair of headphones.
How does it work?
The Screen City Biennial's App has developed a new way to surpass the limitations of stereo imagining and rendering ambisonic virtual spaces into binaural sound experiences for portable smartphone devices.
An advanced sound spatialisation algorithm leveraging 3D binaural imaging and location tracking allows users to interact with their environment by moving towards, around and away from the locations (sound objects).
This technology allows for sound cues to respond in real-time to their movements, and it is used to create an augmented sonic superposition of a physical map, simulating a virtual space in the users’ earphones. In SCB X Son.AR's app, the auditory sense is a central feature for the user experience and sound is rendered and listened with the simplicitiy a smartphone and a pair of headphones.
How does it work?
The Screen City Biennial's App has developed a new way to surpass the limitations of stereo imagining and rendering ambisonic virtual spaces into binaural sound experiences for portable smartphone devices.
An advanced sound spatialisation algorithm leveraging 3D binaural imaging and location tracking allows users to interact with their environment by moving towards, around and away from the locations (sound objects).
This technology allows for sound cues to respond in real-time to their movements, and it is used to create an augmented sonic superposition of a physical map, simulating a virtual space in the users’ earphones. In SCB X Son.AR's app, the auditory sense is a central feature for the user experience and sound is rendered and listened with the simplicitiy a smartphone and a pair of headphones.
In its first format the App developed by Son.AR collective has been supporting the navigation experience of the Screen City Biennial 2019’s locations and public artworks in Stavanger (NO).
The Biennial's exhibition venues have been disseminated by virtual sound entities/objects superimposed on their same map coordinates.
These virtual spots produced audio cues to be listened and perceived by the audience as spatialise audio tracks. The visitors could locate the Biennial's venues using their smartphones to sense the orientation and distance from these "sounding" Biennial's venue.
The experienced offered a combination of music compositions, acousmatic sounds, spoken words, cybernetic voices and navigation tools to visit the Screen City Biennial's public spaces.
Stereo Audio_Music Compositions / Excerpts
→ VISIT SOUNDCLOUD PAGE
Binaural Audio_Demo Excerpts / Walking Simulation
To experience the binaural audio please use headphones.
1) Walking from location 1 to location 2. Head rotations and proximity effects. Augmented sounds and spatial sounds. Binaural audio, Stereo 2.0, min. 02:34.
2) Walking from location 5 to location 4. Several head rotations and proximity effects. Augmented sounds and spatial sounds. Binaural audio, Stereo 2.0, min. 02:34.
Binaural Audio_Demo Excerpts / UI simulation
To experience the binaural audio please use headphones
1) Excerpts from the mediation experience along the ferry terminal. Binaural sound, reaching the location + triggered text speech by user interaction.
Artwork: The Bone (2019), VR by Michelle-Marie Letelier.
Location 10: Hurtigbåtsterminalen, Fiskepiren, Stavanger
Binaural Audio_Demo Excerpts / UI simulation
To experience the binaural audio please use headphones
1) Excerpts from the mediation experience along the ferry terminal. Binaural sound, reaching the location + triggered text speech by user interaction.
Artwork: The Bone (2019), VR by Michelle-Marie Letelier.
Location 10: Hurtigbåtsterminalen, Fiskepiren, Stavanger
Improve your sonic navigation experience:
SCB's App relies on the accurate sensors inside your mobile phone. Location tracking and compass orientation are used together to synthesise the audio experience. Sometimes, however, these sensors are not so accurate. Try the following to improve sensor accuracy and calibration:
Android:
I) Use Google Maps App to calibrate your compass and GPS
II) Enable WIFI and/or Bluetooth localisation (Android OS version permitting):
Settings → Security & Location → Location → Scanning → Enable Bluetooth and Wifi Scanning
iOS:
I) Use Google Maps App to calibrate your compass and GPS
If you experience audio disorientation while using Son.AR, you can calibrate on-the-fly by moving the phone in a ‘figure 8’ pattern.
