A/V
5 minutes
Research photos
Used detail from DEM of Lithuania (from UAB HNIT-Baltic)
2026
This is the continuation of my ongoing data visualisation methodology. My goal during my time in Palanga was to collect audio and spatial data from key sources that make up the sensory experience of exploring the area. This data is the material used to form an audiovisual piece representative of these explorations.
The work is made up of five sections emblematic of the spontaneous recording process. We open on the Digital Elevation Model of Palanga, an open data source that, much like the landscape itself, is experienced daily and provides a constant background but is rarely considered. A synth audio track is produced from scanning the elevation of the base image. The scale of this macro data source is difficult to comprehend, leading to noise and distortion.
To make sense of it, we have to zoom in. First, to the man-made pathways that run through the Palanga Botanical Park, providing a sense of structure amongst the confusion. We are further grounded as clear, ambient sounds from the park begin to leak into the audio track.
We continue to zoom, next to a tree pattern found within the park. A face is seen in the pattern of the tree lines: a naturally occurring symbolic moment of the relationship between us and our surrounding environment. The visual form of the pattern is maintained from the pathways; one pattern is man-made and the other is natural, but both are represented with this relationship considered. More layers of ambient recordings fill the track, furthering the natural/synthetic dynamic.
At this point, the daunting scale of the macro is replaced by the minutia of the micro. We take a moment and look up at the tree line above us, taking note of the point-of-perspective shift our zooming in has caused - we are in the initial noise.
The sound of the waves crashing in the distance entices us to the coast. We follow our instincts, and find ourselves at the intersection of infrastructure and the rhythmic repetition of the waves - the pier. Gentle gurgles from hydrophone recordings put us in the flow of the water. A tunnel-view leading out to the sea feels endless, and returns us back to an unknown once more.
Completed and presented during a residency with the Lithuanian Artists' Association in Palanga, Lithuania.