FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [Art of Failure 2008-2011] - Listen to the surface of the Earth transposed on vinyl record. - "Can we hear the Earth? Not the sounds occurring upon it but the Earth on a geophysical scale?[...] Flat earth society takes readings from the stylus of topographic radar, cuts them into vinyl and then plays them back with a stylus. Phonographic hills-and-dales grow into the Alps, Andes, Himalayas, Grand Canyon, Great Steppe, Great Rift Valley, Great Outback and the Lesser Antilles. Where Enrico Caruso and Nellie Melba once sang one hears the Baja Peninsula, Antarctic Peninsula, and the bathymetric pauses of the Red Sea and Baffin Bay. [...] Peaks and valleys, spikes and wells, spires and troughs, aspirations and depressions, all have their gradations in mythical and actual landscapes." Douglas Kahn - http://artoffailure.org - http://vimeo.com/63471942 -- http://artoffailure.org

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ART OF FAILURE
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FLAT
EARTH
SOCIETY

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FLAT EARTH SOCIETY
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Artist...............: Art of Failure
Title................: Flat Earth Society
Year.................: 2008 - 2011...
Type.................: Earth elevation data
Technique............: 12 inch stereo vinyl
Label................: Art Kill Art - AKA 08
Cutting..............: Flo Kaufmann
Pressing.............: r.a.n.d musik
Genre................: Digital to analog conversion
Source...............: SRTM / GTOPO 30 / Nasa
File Shadowing.......: Art Of Failure - 01/04/2008
Data Resolution......: 16 bit per km
Sampling rate........: 24000Hz per second
Stereo separation....: 10 km of earth surface
Groove separation....: 20 km of earth surface
Groove sizes.........: Width 200 μm, depth 200 μm
Process application..: Pd-extended, Matlab, Protools
Supports.............: ECM Gantner, Art Kill Art
Url..................: http://fes.artoffailure.org
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3. FLAT EARTH SOCIETY
[SIDE A]
--
NORTHERN
HEMISPHERE’S
TOPOGRAPHY

4. FLAT EARTH SOCIETY
[SIDE B]
--
SOUTHERN
HEMISPHERE’S
TOPOGRAPHY

5. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
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- The cartography of the earth
- The exploration of space
- The globalization of market
- The communication technologies
- The World Wide Web
= All those elements conduct to a global thinking
and change our mental approach and representation of the earth.

6. «Conquest of space would
not have been possible
without the products of
perspectivisim, accurate maps
and representations of the
actual terrain, which allowed
the observer to occupy
an externalized perspective
in which the globe could be
viewed as a knowable totality.»
(Purser)

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Title................: FLAT_EARTH_SOCIETY [2008-2011]
Type.................: Elevation data transposed on a record
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FLAT_EARTH_SOCIETY proposes a transposition of the earth elevation
at the scale of a microgroove record. Each side of the 33 rpm is
a transfer of an hemisphere. This engraving of elevation’s data on
the surface of the disk generates in consequence a subtle image
of the earth. A standard turntable can read this relief. While
playing, the chain of elevation data crossed by the needle can be
heard. With every rotation of the disk, we can recognize patterns
corresponding to the relief of the crossed continents.

9. HOW IT WAS MADE
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- The Earth elevation data from the NASA’s databases are converted
into an accurate audio waveform using the Pure Data program.(#1,2)
- This sound file is directly engraved on a dubplate (record)
using a modified record lathe.(#3,4)
4. groove under a microscope
2. audio waveform
3. the needle cutting the groove
1. Earth elevation, 3d view

10. The title comes from:
The Flat Earth Society [1492 B.C -> TODAY]
An organization that seeks to further the belief
that the Earth is flat.

11. This project is not so much a
scientific, design or musical study.
It is rather considered as an activator
- of analogies
- of imaginary fields
- or mental representations

12. FLAT EARTH SOCIETY
MODIFIED TURNTABLE
--
RECORD SLOWED DOWN
AT HALF A DAY
PER SIDE

13. exhibition view / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

14. exhibition view / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

15. exhibition view - discs and video / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

16. FLAT EARTH SOCIETY
[SIDE A]
--
RECORD ON A
STANDARD TURNTABLE

17. video still / ART OF FAILURE - FLAT EARTH SOCIETY [2008-2011]

18. « Can we hear the Earth? Not the sounds occurring upon it but the
Earth on a geophysical scale?[...] The hill-and-dale technique
was used in Edison’s phonograph, recording sound with a stylus
that vertically cut a minute landscape into the grooves of the
cylinder.[...] Flat earth society takes readings from the stylus
of topographic radar, cuts them into vinyl and then plays them back
with a stylus. Phonographic hills-and-dales grow into the Alps,
Andes, Himalayas, Grand Canyon, Great Steppe, Great Rift Valley,
Great Outback and the Lesser Antilles. Where Enrico Caruso and
Nellie Melba once sang one hears the Baja Peninsula, Antarctic
Peninsula, and the bathymetric pauses of the Red Sea and Baffin Bay.
[...] Peaks and valleys, spikes and wells, spires and troughs,
aspirations and depressions, all have their gradations in mythical
and actual landscapes. »
Douglas Kahn 2011

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Project..............: FLAT_EARTH_SOCIETY
Url..................: fes.artoffailure.org
Collective...........: ART OF FAILURE
Url..................: artoffailure.org
@....................: artoffailure@free.fr
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