ANDY WEBSTER

MUZAK FOR THE WOODLANDS







MUZAK FOR THE WOODLANDS [2023]

Muzak for the Woodlands is a site-responsive work that combines biodata sonification technology with the largely forgotten experiments of American inventor George O. Squier, who explored the use of living trees as antennas for radio communication. Reconstructing ad hoc DIY versions of Squier's experimental devices, the work reimagines their use to broadcast the inherent noises produced by the trees themselves when employed as living antennas. 

 Using biodata sonification technology, the piece renders the trees' typically inaudible biological processes audible. However, the sonified biodata appears as a somewhat comical ambient drone, a sound that inadvertently parodies clichéd 'woo woo' meditation music. In a surprising twist, this artificial arboreal ambience connects back to another Squier invention—muzak, the bland background music piped into retail environments. The culminating experience is an irreverent real-time broadcast of a 'muzak for the woodlands.' 

The work was developed with the support of the I-Park Foundation, Connecticut, USA [2023]