Arom Pa Bot: Sonic Poetry from the Garden was an interactive sound installation presented as part of Bangkok Design Week 2022 between 5-13 February 2022. It was made in collaboration with Tommy Hansen and Thanapat Ogaslert. The exhibition aimed to bring people and nature together through a sonic coupling.
Several interactive stations were installed around the Yellow Lane garden, each with its own way of contributing to the overall musical composition. This included leaf readers that affected melody, tempo, and harmony based on resistivity values read from the leaves clipped in between two electrodes. Young freshly-picked leaves had lower resistivity, generating more lively melodies and tempo. Older, dryer leaves had the opposite effect. Overall, this created an interesting dichotomy of sounds, wonderfully reflective of nature at its core.
“We want to translate nature and what nature does to you, in a sonic way,” said Tommy during an interview with People of Ari, “We want people to come and get a chance to look at what our interaction with nature and music can be like.”
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Tommy Hanson is a Bangkok-based sonic artist focusing on experimental sound performance and design. He actively performs as a solo artist and collaborates with artists and musicians across the world.
As a dub engineer, he is a member of the bands Srirajah Rockers, The Sticky Rice, and Yaan. As a producer, teacher, and audio consultant, he also runs a local recording studio called Thailand Music Maker, where artists have the opportunity to work with rare and unusual instruments. As a master sonic arts graduate of Silpakorn University, Tommy utilises analog and digital electronics, generative software, and sensor interfaces alongside experimental performance techniques like live looping and dub mixing.
IG: tmmtommy
Thanapat Ogaslert is a sound artist and technician based in Bangkok. He has a bachelor degree of Communication Arts from Mahidol University International College, and is now studying to get a Master of Music at Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music.
CRSRCRSR is a solo art project of Thanapat Ogaslert to explore the possibilities of new interactions across different species using data analysis and message reinterpretation through coding, sound, and visual art.
IG: nowheredweller