The air whizzing around a ball, the sound of the ball hitting the earth,
the screaming crowd — in sports we experience these noises as movements in space. When everything is
moving quickly, sound is essential for perception and critical to the experience of speed. Being able
to locate our “hearing position” within an environment determines how we acoustically perceive movement
in space.
What would we hear if we could move our hearing position,
our ears, to a point beyond our own bodies?
Baseball. The sound
installation
kick, hit, throw, catch …
requires earphones for its three-dimensional
sound
effects © Satoshi Morita
Would we perceive things differently? Sound artist Satoshi
Morita investigated this question and developed the sound installation kick, hit,
throw, catch
… which lets you experience the world of sound from the perspective of a ball. With your ears
“in” the
ball, dynamic movement can be experienced from a different perspective.
INMYX:
Sound is an important theme in your work. What is so fascinating about it for you?
Satoshi
Morita: To begin with, while sound is a phenomenon to do with hearing, other senses can also be stimulated
by sound. A sound can direct our visual and haptic perception — for example, if one hears a specific
noise, it could bring up old memories or call up images in one’s imagination, possibly along with a
scent or a temperature. I am fascinated by the multimodal experience generated by a sound.
Soccer ball, sound
installation
kick, hit, throw, catch …
© Satoshi Morita
In Japan I studied sculpture. In this course of study, one deals a lot with material and space. At some point, sound became my material, because it was the optimal way for me to express my thoughts on the experience of space.
INMYX: What are you working on right now?
Morita:
Right now there are a number of projects going on: for example, a research
project on the functional sounds for a medical device, an acoustic city guide for the blind and an art
project about touch and sound in conjunction with the sound of the body.
Golf ball, sound
installation kick,
hit, throw, catch …
© Satoshi Morita
INMYX: Sound is used in many different fields of design, from ringtones
to “sound logos”, the sound of car doors and the sound design of movies ... Sound seems to be a fundamental
component of design. Why?
Morita: With sound, one can describe a function
and create emotion at the same time.
These aspects, the rational and emotional effect of sound, are what make sound such an interesting part
of design. For me, multimodal perception is the most essential core of sound design, and this is where
I try to apply my artistic interests as well.
Born in 1974 in Tokyo,
Satoshi Morita studied Fine Arts in Japan and Sound Studies
in Germany.
