Photophon is an installation based on acoustic research of the photoacoustic effect. The photoacoustic effect is based on the phenomena of radiant energy where a strong light source can be converted into a sound wave due to absorption and thermal excitation.
The photoacoustic effect was discovered in the 19th century by Alexander Graham Bell. He then used candlelight, sunlight and the first forms of electricity in order to amplify sound. As an installation, Photophon proposes new ways of generating sounds without the use of electronic amplification.
Light creates enough energy to produce sounds. A number of almost identical photophonic objects play a variable tone of the fundamental frequency of 523Hz. These tones are created by white lasers projecting strong light-beams through a rotating disc which chops the beam into small fragments. These fragments produce tones in each photophonic object. The tonality of the installation constantly shifts in time and has a changing vibrating micro-tonal structure.
Photophon is co-produced by Intro in situ, Maastricht and Borealis and is part of Resonance– European Sound Art Network.