For our work on trees, Encyclopedia Mesophoria draws influence from sound artist Christina Kubisch's Electrical Walks, in which the artist developed novel modes of electromagnetic listening, particularly in urban environments. We take direction also from radio engineer and instrument designer Vlad Kreimer, himself inspired by Kubisch, who created the SOMA Labs Ether v2, our primary microphone. Encyclopedia Mesophoria borrows from the fields of wireless communication engineering, conceptual art, environmental physics, contemporary sound art, bioacoustics and bioelectromagnetism, appropriating scientific affect and aesthetics throughout our endeavors. Our projects operate in the tradition of pseudo-institutional projects such as the research-based, documentary programs of the Center for Land Use Interpretation and the intertextual, archival fictions of Walid Raad's The Atlas Group. Our use of serial, systematic repetition in format is inspired by the work of photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, whose black and white images of industrial architecture are strictly standardized to highlight patterns and variations.
Mars Dietz, founder Encyclopedia Mesophoria
The Institute for Electronic Arts at Alfred University