My Hands Are Dirty

Click to start the chromascape

My Hands Are Dirty is an experiment developed during the FlussLab Online Residency in 2022, aiming to translate a soil chromatogram into a simple sonification. While many projects focus on the sounds of the river or the ground, I wanted to listen to the water through the soil, an approach from a unique and rather visual perspective. Soil chromatography is a photographic process where finely ground soil is absorbed by filter paper coated with silver nitrate. Due to capillary action, a ‘picture’ appears. It is a low-cost method for analyzing soil’s chemical and biological state.

The chromatograms were developed from soil samples surrounding the Neckar River. The Neckar flows through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, passing through cities of great importance. In many cities, it is part of the beautiful landscape, with some castles next to it. However, in Mannheim, it is often perceived as toxic due to the myriad factories and industries on its shore. Can the soil be a bioindicator of a river’s health?

The sonification test was made in Processing and then translated into a P5 environment more suitable for web display. The code retrieves RGB information from the chromatogram and translates it into a music value resulting in what I call ‘Chromascapes’.