My name is Jon Bellona. I am a sound artist and educator who specializes in digital technologies. I employ sonification methods, data mapping techniques, audio technologies and even instrument building to create sound art works, music, and digital interfaces. I am part of the art collective, Harmonic Laboratory, and I recently wrote a children’s book on audio production. I am currently Co-PI on a National Science Foundation grant sonifying ocean data called Accessible Oceans.
nine DC motors, nine perimeter trip alarms, wood logs, and custom electronics (2024)
Consisting of nine DC motors, nine perimeter trip alarms, wood logs, and custom electronics, S.O.S. is a sound artwork that is a commentary on the Athabasca tar sands sacrifice zone; S.O.S. sounds our reluctance to listen or act on the destructive extraction methods of the oil & gas industry. DC Motors churn out an S.O.S. morse code distress call; the movements of which never quite activate the attached perimeter trip alarms. The distress call goes unanswered, speeding up to an eventual fever pitch before dissolving into a metronomic rhythmic pattern. These rhythms connote glossy artifacts of our reliance on bitumen byproducts, all of which are distractions to the methods of the extractive industry that permanently alter the environment.
The 2024 work was installed in 510 Oak Street, Eugene, OR as part of a Center for Art Research exhibition series Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, organized by curators-in-residence Ashley Stull Meyers and Aurora Tang and made possible by the University of Oregon Department of Art’s Center for Art Research and the Ford Family Foundation. Photos by Adam DeSorbo.
Wildfire is a 48-foot long speaker array that plays back a wave of fire sounds across its 48-foot span at speeds of actual wildfires. The sound art installation strives to have viewers embody the devastating spread of wildfires through an auditory experience.
The work was installed at the Edith Langley Barrett Art Gallery in Utica, New York. The work ran Sept. 19 – Dec. 8, 2019 as part of a solo art exhibition entitled, “Impact! works by Jon Bellona.” Wildfire was part of SPRING/BREAK Art Show in NYC March 3 – 9, 2020 curated by Megan C. Austin and Ashlie Flood.
Wildfire was made possible through the University of Oregon Center for Environmental Futures and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Impact! exhibition was supported by funds from the Oregon Arts Commission. Additional support made possible from the Edith Langley Barrett Art Gallery.
Public Final Report for University of Oregon Center for Environmental Futures.
I mixed-down the forty-eight foot, 16-channel work into stereo (2-channel). An embedded Spotify player is below, but the stereo version may be found on Apple, Amazon, YouTube or wherever you stream music.
Distance-X is a digital musical instrument that consists of a hacked Gametrak, Nintendo Wiimote, and customized Kyma software. Music on Distance-X is all human-powered computer music. No tapes. No spacebar playback. Just body movements turned musical mutants.
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