William Brooks
Clastic Resonance, 2025
Dimensions: 8m length x 6m width
An interactive multi-channel haptic installation, comprised of (5) ‘Riyadh Sandstone’ boulders on a plain of sand, each resonating with low-frequency sounds recorded from the vast urban development that Saudi Arabia is currently undertaking.
Using contact transducers embedded in the sandstone, the installation transform each stone into an resonant body. The highly localized transmission of sound, barely perceptible at distance, requires the audience to reveal the sonic nature of the installation by interacting with the materiality of each natural form; placing their hands or body against the stones to perceive the resonance, reshaping the act of listening, from an auditory experience into a haptic, embodied encounter.
Experiencing Riyadh’s soundscape, Brooks became increasingly aware of how sound marks a place—most notably through the call to prayer, a cultural phenomenon unfamiliar to him back home. This heightened sensitivity made him more attuned to the city’s rapid physical transformation and the sonic impressions it leaves in its wake. He started questioning how the sounds of construction and industry impinge upon the natural landscape. What traces do these activities leave behind, not just in memory but in material. This project examines that relationship by using Riyadh sandstone—an enduring geological presence—as a surface that carries the low-frequency resonances of urban expansion. By transmitting these vibrations through stone, the work shifts listening beyond the auditory and into a haptic experience. Visitors engage directly, pressing hands or ears against the surface to perceive the ephemeral echoes of a changing city. The project negotiates the relationship between the enduring natural material landscape and the transient sonic nature of a city in flux, inviting reflection on the anthropogenic impressions left upon the land.
Exhibited. as part of the inagural Diriyah Arts Futures: Emerging New Media Artists 2025, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dimensions: 8m length x 6m width
An interactive multi-channel haptic installation, comprised of (5) ‘Riyadh Sandstone’ boulders on a plain of sand, each resonating with low-frequency sounds recorded from the vast urban development that Saudi Arabia is currently undertaking.
Using contact transducers embedded in the sandstone, the installation transform each stone into an resonant body. The highly localized transmission of sound, barely perceptible at distance, requires the audience to reveal the sonic nature of the installation by interacting with the materiality of each natural form; placing their hands or body against the stones to perceive the resonance, reshaping the act of listening, from an auditory experience into a haptic, embodied encounter.
Experiencing Riyadh’s soundscape, Brooks became increasingly aware of how sound marks a place—most notably through the call to prayer, a cultural phenomenon unfamiliar to him back home. This heightened sensitivity made him more attuned to the city’s rapid physical transformation and the sonic impressions it leaves in its wake. He started questioning how the sounds of construction and industry impinge upon the natural landscape. What traces do these activities leave behind, not just in memory but in material. This project examines that relationship by using Riyadh sandstone—an enduring geological presence—as a surface that carries the low-frequency resonances of urban expansion. By transmitting these vibrations through stone, the work shifts listening beyond the auditory and into a haptic experience. Visitors engage directly, pressing hands or ears against the surface to perceive the ephemeral echoes of a changing city. The project negotiates the relationship between the enduring natural material landscape and the transient sonic nature of a city in flux, inviting reflection on the anthropogenic impressions left upon the land.
Exhibited. as part of the inagural Diriyah Arts Futures: Emerging New Media Artists 2025, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Radio Tapestry II
Radio Tapestry II, 2024
Etched zinc plates with copper windings.
Dimensions: 2.2m length x 1.2m width
A collection of photographic etchings of wireless transmissions received in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales.
Each plate, used for its conductive properties, depicts a moment of reception; a material representation of transient signals. These collated artefacts offer insight into what I refer to as the ‘Radio Frequency Landscape’—a non-optical space that carries our wireless identities, interactions, and existence in the digital age.
Shortlisted, and exhibited. as part of the Gilchrist-Fisher Award 2024 at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, Fitzrovia London.
Etched zinc plates with copper windings.
Dimensions: 2.2m length x 1.2m width
A collection of photographic etchings of wireless transmissions received in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales.
Each plate, used for its conductive properties, depicts a moment of reception; a material representation of transient signals. These collated artefacts offer insight into what I refer to as the ‘Radio Frequency Landscape’—a non-optical space that carries our wireless identities, interactions, and existence in the digital age.
Shortlisted, and exhibited. as part of the Gilchrist-Fisher Award 2024 at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, Fitzrovia London.
Macro Impressions
Macro Impressions, 2023
Photographic Series.
An extreme macro-photography series of inscribed metal plates.
Used for their conductive properties, each plate depicts a moment of reception; a material representation of transient transmissions. Using such an intimate perspective affords us the ability to register the minute topography of each etching.
Photographic Series.
An extreme macro-photography series of inscribed metal plates.
Used for their conductive properties, each plate depicts a moment of reception; a material representation of transient transmissions. Using such an intimate perspective affords us the ability to register the minute topography of each etching.
Radio Tapestry
Radio Tapestry, 2022
Sound Installation; Etched Zinc plates connected via copper thread, interfaced with a Raspberry Pi Computer
Dimensions: 2.33m height x 1m width
Radio Tapestry is an installation work, composed of photographic etchings of received radio transmissions on zinc plates. Used as antennae, each plate captures a fleeting moment in time, an intersection between electromagnetism, propagation, and human agency.
Whether the recorded transmissions are intentional - music or communication - or unintentional – polluting electronic sources; security systems, transformers – the materiality of each plate offers an interface into an often-overlooked understanding of space, the Radio Frequency (RF) Landscape. A topographical conception of RF which emphasises that these ethereal interactions exist in parallel to the corporeal space we inhabit in our day-to-day lives.
Each inscribed radio artefact is woven into the next via copper windings. An acknowledgement of the historic association with the textile process of warp and weft to radio’s interrelation between electricity and magnetism. This conductive continuity between plates allows each ‘stitch’ to become part of a larger fabric of antenna, in which every collated radio artefact serves part of a more substantial receiver. Received signals are then audibly played back in real-time, allowing us to witness the propagation of information in space.
Sound Installation; Etched Zinc plates connected via copper thread, interfaced with a Raspberry Pi Computer
Dimensions: 2.33m height x 1m width
Radio Tapestry is an installation work, composed of photographic etchings of received radio transmissions on zinc plates. Used as antennae, each plate captures a fleeting moment in time, an intersection between electromagnetism, propagation, and human agency.
Whether the recorded transmissions are intentional - music or communication - or unintentional – polluting electronic sources; security systems, transformers – the materiality of each plate offers an interface into an often-overlooked understanding of space, the Radio Frequency (RF) Landscape. A topographical conception of RF which emphasises that these ethereal interactions exist in parallel to the corporeal space we inhabit in our day-to-day lives.
Each inscribed radio artefact is woven into the next via copper windings. An acknowledgement of the historic association with the textile process of warp and weft to radio’s interrelation between electricity and magnetism. This conductive continuity between plates allows each ‘stitch’ to become part of a larger fabric of antenna, in which every collated radio artefact serves part of a more substantial receiver. Received signals are then audibly played back in real-time, allowing us to witness the propagation of information in space.