Have you heard the wind?

Artist Ken Gregory might point out that what you hear is not the wind, but the wind interacting with the physical world - it knocks leaves together and travels through resonating cavities such as gaps in a wall. In short, wind doesn't make sound, but it causes other things to make sounds.

Co-presented by Gallery 1C03, Video Pool and send + receive, Gregory's Wind Coil Sound Flow is, in part, inspired by the Aeolian harp. Referencing the ancient Greek god of wind, Aeolis, an Aeolian harp consists of a sounding board and strings stretched between two bridges that are 'played' by the wind. The wind vibrates the strings, producing sounds that range from a soft hum to a low howl. The wind is not a uniform force but plays upon the strings' length with varying intensities, thus producing harmonic chords.

Gregory is known for works that respond to real-time data, such as the temperature of the gallery or how fast he swings a ball on a chain. Through DIY computer programming and robotics, Wind Coil Sound Flow is his take on the classic Aeolian harp. Gregory's instrument, which looks like a cross between a lute and a boat frame, is not animated by the wind directly.

Recordings of the capricious action of the wind on the strings of Gregory's handmade kites flown in various locales - the Winnipeg floodway, rural Ontario and Sackville, N.B. - stand in for Aeolis. The whooshing, humming and strangely pleasant screeches that emanate from the delicate-looking speakers are produced by the energy of the wind, captured in digital recordings. The recordings are first transmitted as electronic information to three handmade electromagnetic coils mounted on guitar pickups on the instrument's resonating body. They are then transformed into magnetic energy and finally kinetic energy, which vibrates three 20-foot lengths of piano wire, each punctuated with a parachute-like speaker made of traditional kite materials.

As the kinetic energy vibrates the strings, it doubles and overlaps the original sound vibrations, creating new harmonics and shifting pitch. The electronic DJ's tricks are realized using primarily 18th-century technology.

This is not a new strategy for Gregory, who often recycles outmoded technologies and constructs gadgets from an eccentric collection of cast-off materials. In the past, he has converted a tea kettle into a vehicle that powers itself with puffs of steam and hacked the lamest video-game technology ever, the Nintendo Power Glove, so that it actually does something cool. Gregory will share some of his bricoleur's skills to transform junk into working guitars at the Grafitti Gallery on Oct. 17 (the workshop runs from 4 to 6 p.m. and is free).

Wind Coil Sound Flow is so large - the three wooden arms that support the strings stretch the length of the gallery floor, then curl up to nearly touch the ceiling - it seems that only a boundless entity such as the wind could play it. Gregory, however, thinks of Wind Coil Sound Flow as a body for the wind rather than an instrument. He compares the action of the resonating chamber and strings to that of the human voice box and vocal chords.

He muses that maybe we just haven't learned to understand the wind's language yet.

Wind Coil Sound Flow is presented as part of send + receive (www.sendandreceive.org), taking place Oct. 13 to 17.

Sandee Moore left the mild climes of her B.C. home for the warm embrace of the Winnipeg arts community six years ago. She is an intermedia artist, a former director of Video Pool and occasional arts writer.

WIND COIL SOUND FLOW
Until Oct. 31, Gallery 1C03, University of Winnipeg