Bonus Table 571

Bonus Table 571 from colleen whiteley on Vimeo.

"Bonus Table 571 is a collaborative experiment in joining science, design and music. This project is part of Reclaim NYC's Collaboration show happening during NYCXDESIGN 2013.

Pure tones tuned to the natural resonant frequency of the wood result in vibrations, determined by the tabletop's size shape and density. The vibrations reveal a geometric pattern inherent to the wood.

The resonant pattern is etched away by an enzyme cocktail tailored to the molecular structure of the wood. This process is similar to acid-etching a metal plate, such as in printmaking. The difference is that this is based on a live process; using enzymes derived from forest floor microbes.
This piece is auto-collaborative, in that its design elements are defined by interactions between its components and their inherent properties: The dimensions and density of the materials determine it’s resonant frequency which informs the pattern to be etched, and the makeup of the wood itself determines how deeply the enzymes etch into the wood.
Bonus Table 571 is a collaboration between Colleen & Eric Whiteley, Loe Hubbard scientist/bioengineer and Ben Cameron musician/sound designer."

Full story on Isotrope of Me here.  Some details on the use of the eurorack modular:

"We experimented with different designs and thicknesses of wood until finally we found a design that worked much like the head of a drum; 3 layers of laminate within a strong square frame. As you can see in the video, I used the TiptopAudio Z3000 oscillator to play a sine wave (at ample amplitude) through the surface with a 12 inch speaker cone, isolating the wood from the speaker with foam blocks.

After documenting the frequencies at which the wood resonated, they were programmed into the Makenoise Rene sequencer so that we could cycle through them for the video. What you see in the video is just what happens when you move from one frequency to another..."