NOAA webcam / travelplay

2003/2005

video installation including 2 videos, video projector, 1 4” x 6” LCD screen, Dixie cups, thread, fm transmitter

In 2005 I made a time-lapse film from one season of daily images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s scientific web cam deployed yearly at the north pole from April to October. The sound is transmitted live on an FM frequency that can be heard in a 1/4 mile radius. The sound is by Victor McSurely and is composed from sounds gathered from arctic archives, including: cracking ice in Greenland, ice flows, white whales, and underwater physical disturbance (such as earthquakes). The small LCD screen shows an archive of monochromatic videos of a small boy playing with the technologies of travel: planes, trains, and boats.

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Images courtesy NOAA/PMEL

Sound by Victor McSurely

sound sources:


  • Ronald Kramer’s recording of cracking ice in Greenland


  • Historical Naval Ship’s Association sounds of ice flows, white whales, underwater physical disturbance (earthquake)


  • United Nations Environmental Program sound of the arctic bird, Little Stint


  • Stephen P. McGreevy’s ground-based ELF-VLF recordings, specifically alberta and vancouver island northern lights
    radio emissions