Beautiful and well-executed project by designer/researcher van den Heuvel for his master’s in Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute / Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam.

Mark is also known as a musician, under the name Monodeer.

Processes of computer activity such as loading, storing and networking used to make certain kinds of sound. Due to technological developments, this is currently evolving into silence. The mechanical sounds from the fan might be one of the last sonic traces left to connect us to the material world of computation.
This publication revolves around the topic of how sound can play a role in the perception of the material properties of computation as the latter is often perceived as ‘immaterial’. It consists of 2 readers and an audio cassette. The first reader is a collection of stories and anecdotes by 18 contributors. For this part, each contributor was invited to share a vivid memory or almost-forgotten experience of how sound connected them to the material world of computation and digital networking. To enrich their stories, each contributor provided a piece of audio and a (modulated) image with their text. The second reader is a thesis that discusses the topic of the (disappearing) sound of computer activity more in-depth. The issue explores the theme by experimenting with the material properties of the contents itself.

Contributions by:
Aymeric Mansoux, Claire Kwong, Dennis de Bel, Sarah Grant, Dustin Long, Florian Cramer, Goto 80, Danny Wolfers, Hans Kulk, joak, Raquel Meyers, Tijs Ham, UTZ, Zach Mandeville, Olli Aarni, Patrick Lichty, Mariëtte Groot, Sebastian Tomczak and Mark van den Heuvel.

The second reader, Clicks, Beeps, etc. explores the theme by experimenting with the material properties of the contents itself. The tools and resources created and used for this issue are shared on the publication’s website. Additionally, it is possible to contribute by adding a story and modulating an image.