Axel Coumans

Department: Food Non Food
Website: www.atelieraxel.nl

Streaming Sandwaves

What: A machine that treats the physical traces of tidal waves on the beach as sound waves.

Why: ‘Streaming Sandwaves’ presents a language that was unheard until now. Axel Coumans has captured the dialogue between the North Sea and its shore – not by recording the sound of the waves, but by recording their traces in the sand.

How: Axel has teamed up with the Embassy of the North Sea to give a voice to the ever-interacting water and sand. His self-built device laser scans the intricate patterns that the outgoing tide leaves on the shore and then carves the same groove into a master album on site – in a simple bucket on the beach.

“Take a moment to listen to the dialogue between water and land”