the SoundShell Project
| SoundShell :: weekly :: week#3 |
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| Metaphorically, it works so well - you can hear the ocean in a conch's shell. There's something powerful there. I was really excited, so I searched the web for more information on how shells are physically constructed. |
| I scoured Google for detailed images of the underlying protein structure of the shell, thinking that I could arrange some sound-capturing boxes in a room-sized constellation of a protein molecule. It quickly became obvious that this idea was unworkable. There are many protein molecules involved in shell production, with complicated chemical structures. |
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What intrigued me was a picture of a shell fragment taken with an electron microscope. It was a jagged wall of calcium crystal bricks with protein for mortar. The text said that the genes in the animal were responsible for creating each layer of protein "mortar," and that each layer was offset slightly from the others by a random amount so that each layer would line up slightly crooked from it's neighbors, like in a brick wall. Inspiring... maybe what I need is that layered approach, with randomly offset beats and rhythm. |
| ::next:: ::1::2::3:: |
