A while back, while working on a commision for another artist, I accidently stumbled across this fun little bit pf phyiscs.
The commission was for a piece by Alvin Lucier, where you would run an AC current through a long piece of wire, and use a strong magnet near the wire to induce movement and vibration. Contact mic’s at the end of the wire would amplify the vibrations and make really incredible noises.
While setting this up, I decided to place a pickup near the wire too. Instead of picking up the vibrations, I picked up the AC current that was being run through it. I was picking up the audio wave inside the wire.
I went on to develop a series of installations that exploted this bit of physics. By running different audio signals through wires and using a pickup to induce the audio back through an amplifier.
The first version of this idea was used at the first Tate Lates event. I worked with artist Kevin Ka Wei Chan who provided a series of Tape Loops that were sent through a large array of wires. Participants would then use a pickup to sniff out and mix the signsls together wherever the wires crossed paths.
A smaller version of the same installations is in this video:
Another installation that used this bit pf physics used Pendulums to make momentary inductions as the audio source would swing past a pickup.
This version of the inductive Audio used Stems from an Om Unit track, all being sent through different wires in this perspex installation. Users could pick out individual parts of the track, or find where the wires crossed to mix them together.
Vulpes Labs 