ambisonic (3rd order) electroacoustic

14:00

Unlike other natural disasters which are often preceded by tell-tail signs – the hook echo radar signature of tornado-producing thunderstorms or ground deformation prior to a volcanic eruption, for example – earthquakes strike with violent abruptness. As a child, the destructive force of an earthquake coupled with an inability to anticipate them occasionally provoked in me a paralyzing fear on sleepless nights. As an adult, the initial jolt and subsequent rumbling still activate a type of apocalyptic dread and a feeling of utter helplessness.

Everything Will Be Shaken follows the first 24 hours of seismic activity from one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded: the Great Tōhoku Earthquake of 2011, the result of a tectonic slip-rupture event 20 miles below the Pacific Ocean. From 2:46pm on March 11th until 2:46pm on March 12th was the period of the most violent shaking. The earthquake resulted in massive tsunamis, hundreds of thousands of totally or partially destroyed buildings, three nuclear reactor meltdowns, and nearly 16,000 deaths.

Material from this piece was used in Shaken to the Core for found objects, electronics, and computer.