Semiconductor Films

Semiconductor Films (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt) have been creating their Sound Films and Live Animations for almost ten years now (long before folks were making skylines hop like EQ’s). Despite this, they have slipped below some people’s radar as they seem to float above a traditional category or scene. Their fascinating work is a hybrid of real world imagery and the invisible, latent forces that are infused in the everyday. They approach sound as a tangible, sculptural object.

“Semiconductor make moving image works which reveal our physical world in flux; cities in motion, shifting landscapes and systems in chaos. [They] work with digital animation to transcend the constraints of time, scale and natural forces; they explore the world beyond human experience, questioning our very existence.” (Semiconductor’s site)

Those of you in the UK may have caught one of their more recent films, Magnetic Movie, on Channel 4 as a part of their running Animate Projects. The film consists of footage shot during their five month fellowship at NASA’s Space Sciences Laboratories, recordings of space scientists at UC Berkley describing their discoveries, actual VLF audio recordings and Semiconductors visualizations of these descriptions. Take a few minutes out of your day and learn about fleeting electrons.

Their current project, Brilliant Noise, is on tour now.