Clams

In nature, clams are detectors of pollutants; they serve as tiny filtration systems. Clams is a collection of kinetic sound sculptures which convert data from water quality sensors into sounds and movement. Each ‘clam’ is constructed from recycled waste plastic and contains a speaker. The continuously evolving microtonal soundscape gives each shell a subtle, life-like opening and closing action. Real-time readings from an industry-standard water purity sensor placed in the river, lake or sea of the cities where the artwork is presented, form the basis for the music, which is generated through a constantly shifting process based on water quality levels over time. Clams invite the audience to draw connections between media art, data sonification and environmental sustainability.

Credits: Clams is a project created and produced by Marco Barotti
Software development Pim Boreel
Clams was developed at WRO Art Center within the framework of EMAP / EMARE
Co-funded by: Creative Europe, C-Takt, Oerol Festival, and Transnatural
Supported by: Dayton Audio, “In-Situ” water quality measurements,

Marco Barotti
Marco Barotti is a media artist. After music studies at the Siena Jazz Academy, he began merging sound with visual art. His work is driven by a desire to invent an artistic language in which a fictional post-futurist era is expressed through kinetic sound interventions in natural and urban environments. His installations merge audio technology, consumer objects, and waste into moving sculptures triggered entirely by sound. The primary focus of his work is to create a “tech ecosystem” that plays with resemblances to animals and plants. These artworks serve as a metaphor for the anthropogenic impact on the planet and aim to make people aware of environmental and social issues. Barotti has been awarded the NTU Global Digital Art Prize (Clams) the Tesla Award (Swans) and the Delux Colour Award (Sound Of Light). His work has been exhibited internationally at Gwangju Biennale (Gwangju), Ars Electronica (Linz), Saatchi Gallery (London), Science Gallery (Melbourne), New Media Gallery (Vancouver) Futurium (Berlin), Fact (Liverpool), Wro Art Center (Wroclaw), Picknick (Seoul), Isea (Montreal), ARCAM Architecture Center (Amsterdam), silent green (Berlin), Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven), NTU (Singapore), Stuck, (Leuven), Kikkk Festival (Namur), Zer01ne, (Seoul), Emaf (Osnabrück), Lisboa Soa (Lisbon), La Boral, (Gijón), New Holland Island and Sevcableport (St Petersburg). Barotti has received grants from S+T+ARTS, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Emap / Emare, bbk and Music Board Berlin. He has been selected for prestigious residency programs such as Art of Entanglement, Science Gallery Berlin / BIFOLD at TU Berlin (2023), Zer01ne Creators project, Seoul (2022), Re:Searching IT Security CASA – Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2021) and WRO Center for Media Art, Wroclaw (2019).