The ocean already makes music of its own, but in one Croatian town, its natural sounds are enhanced with the help of an interactive jetty-turned-instrument called ‘Sea Organ.’ Created by architect Nikola Basic in collaboration with engineers, craftspeople and a musical professor who tuned all of the pipes, the 230-foot installation on the coast of Zadar emits a constantly-changing concert of harmonic sounds with the flow of wind and water.

A system of polyethylene tubes and a resonating cavity are disguised beneath a set of marble steps leading straight into the Adriatic Sea. The channels connect to 35 organ pipes, and each set of steps containing five pipes is tuned to a different musical chord. As waves and the wind push air into the pipes, they create a haunting chorus of sound. The rougher the sea, the louder and faster the music.

The Zadar-Morske Orgulje, as it’s known locally, is also topped with an interactive display of LED lights that seem timed to show the movement of the water under the marble. This 22-meter-diameter, disc-shaped solar-powered installation called ‘Sun Salutation,’ also created by Basic, only serves to make the music of the sea even more magical.

Images via Flickr Creative Commons: linssimato, J We, Suzanne Hamilton, EyeofJ

Mathematical theorems, the physics of an object moving through space, and intangible scientific data are visualized three-dimensionally and made into works of art in these 12 sculptures and installations.

Kinetic Sculptures Based on Mechanical Waves

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“Inspired in equal parts by math and nature,” Reuben Margolin’s kinetic sculptures use pulleys and motors to recreate the complex movements seen in nature. These mechanical installations capture the crawl of a caterpillar, the movement of waves and other physical phenomena in a way that’s entirely unexpected and beautiful to take in.

‘Cosmos’ Sphere Made of Scientific Data

If you were to happen upon this sphere while walking in the forest, you couldn’t be blamed for wondering whether you’d discovered an alien spaceship of some sort. But the reality of ‘Cosmos’ is just as interesting: it’s scientific data in three-dimensional form, a record of a year’s worth of carbon dioxide patterns and measurements from the trees of Alice Holt forest in Surrey, England. The grooves on the exterior of the sculpture contain the data, which was collected from a nearby tower.

Interactive Sound Tapestries

A series of capacitive sensors were applied to suspended fabric using conductive paint for ‘Contours,’ an interactive tapestry installation by creative laboratory Bare Conductive and designers Fabio Antinori and Alicja Pytlewska. As people pass nearby, the sensors gather data about their movements and translate it into ambient sounds, making reference to the relationship between science and the body.

Cell-Inspired Sculpture Made of 1200 Mirrors

An egg-like sculpture made of 1,200 mirrors hovered in a tree in the city center of Nantes, France, visually representing the creators’ research into cells. French studio Collectif Timée based the sculpture on the Voronoi Diagram in which a mathematical formula creates cells from halfway lines around random space points. As the cells converge, a kaleidoscopic effect is produced.

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Intangible Data In Physical Form 12 Scientific Sculptures

What will become of all that humans have created when we’re no longer on the planet to preserve it? This project by artist Evan Holm is both a nod to the grief that the mere thought of losing so much art, architecture, music and other culturally significant creations can incite, and hope for a new beginning. ‘Submerged Turntables’ play music perfectly even when placed underwater, spinning in a black pool.

Watching the record swirl in the water is an eerie sight, powerfully evoking visuals of the monster floods we’ve watched wipe out human settlements in epic disaster movies as well as in real life. The knob to control the record player is built into a branch that hangs over the pool. The video below shows the process of setting up the installation.

“There will be a time when all tracings of human culture will dissolve back into the soil under the slow crush of the unfolding universe,” says Holm. “The pool, black and depthless, represents loss, represents mystery and represents the collective subconscious of the human race. By placing these records underneath the dark and obscure surface of the pool, I am enacting a small moment of remorse towards this loss.”

“In the end however this is an optimistic sculpture, for just after that moment of submergence; tone, melody and ultimately song is pulled back out of the pool, past the veil of the subconscious, out from under the crush of time, and back into a living and breathing realm. When I pe

A digital and mechanical module that fastens onto bridges and connects via retractable strings to a wearable suit creates a ‘human harp,’ a musical collaboration between the user and the bridge. The harpist moves in a sort of dance to pull the strings, creating the sounds, which are felt in real-time through vibrations on the bridge. The installation will travel to bridges around the globe, so pedestrians have a chance to try it out for themselves.

London-based artist Di Mainstone got the idea when looking at the Brooklyn Bridge during a residency in New York City, and seeing its similarity to the musical instrument. She envisioned a clip-on sound interface that would allow pedestrians to ‘play’ the bridge as if it were really a harp.

The Human Harp was created by a collaborative team of artists, e ngineers and researchers using cutting-edge technology. The modules on the device utilize magnets in acrylic bubbles to detect the angle of the ropes. The movements are processed using software packages to generate the sounds. Watch the video to get an idea of the process.

“As I listened to the hum of the steel suspension cables, the chatter of visitors and the musical ‘clonks’ of their footsteps along the bridge’s wooden walkway, I wondered if these sounds could be recorded, remixed and replayed through a collaborative digital interface? Mirroring the steel suspension cables of the bridge, I decided that this clip-on device could be harp-like, with retractable strings that physically attach the user or Movician’s body to the bridge, literally turning them into a human harp.”

“We could imagine this process is a game of international research whispers, with information passing from one laboratory onto another.  All hubs will be integral to this dialogue, as the Human Harp develops and grows on its journey around the globe.”

Grains of sand arrange themselves into complex geometric patterns according to audio frequencies in these fascinating resonance experiments by Youtube user Brusspup. The sand is sprinkled onto a black metal plate attached to a tone generator, which emits a series of increasing frequencies. The higher the frequencies, the more intricate the designs become.

This experiment is based on the Chiadni plate, invented by German physicist Ernst Chiadni in the 18th century. Chiadni used a violin bow along the edge of a glass plate covered with sand to create visualizations of sound. The plate is divided into regions vibrating in opposite directions, bounded by lines of zero vibration called nodal lines.

The plate was bowed until it reached resonance, at which point the vibration causes the sand to concentrate along the nodal lines where the surface is still. This technique is still used in the design and construction of acoustic instruments like violins and guitars.

Brusspup often experiments with the intersection of science and art. Previous projects have included running water through sound waves to produce incredible zig-zagging shapes, and a sound-based camera trick that makes water appear to travel backwards.