Cymatic Shirt

In 1680, English scientist Robert Hooke poured a bunch of flour onto a glass plate and then vibrated the plate by running a bow across it. What he saw was the flour rearranging itself as if by magic into a series of stunningly intricate patterns that changed every time he changed the ‘note.’ In the 18th century German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni built on these experiments, using sand on metal plates and producing ‘Chladni figures’ – the first cataloguing of the physical shapes of sound.

It’s highly unlikely that Hooke and Chladni were the first to explore the function of wave mechanics. They just got the best press. You find these kinds of mind-bendingly complex patterns in the architecture, design and philosophy of ancient cultures on almost every continent.

But it wasn’t until the 20th century that the term ‘cymatics’ was coined by Swiss physician Hans Jenny to describe the science of visible sound. Using oscillators to vibrate plates coated with powders, pastes and liquids, Jenny revealed that different frequencies could generate complex, repeating patterns – often resembling the structures found in nature. His experiments proved that sound is not just something we hear, but a force capable of shaping matter into organised, harmonious structures.

Gatti experimented with water, salt, pollen and non-Newtonian fluid to create his cymatics short films. And used smart lighting to remove background detail. “I want to see whatever interaction is taking place as purely as possible,” Gatti says. “With these films, I’ve been able to isolate the pure pattern. They go beyond language, beyond culture but we have an inherent attraction to them, we’re hardwired to respond to them in some way.”

Our first pattern was created with water and sound frequencies between 200Hz and 250Hz. And it was filmed with a single-point source light to the side of the dish to produce a finer and more irregular pattern. The second was created using oil and a sound frequency of 50Hz. And it was lit from all directions with a larger source, producing thicker lines.

Josef Gatti’s cymatics experiments were the launch pad for Phenomena, a nine-part original digital series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation looking at energy, matter, sound waves, light, electricity, magnetism, magnitudes and evolution. The films are part popular science programming, part psychedelic odyssey into the hidden maths and mechanics of the cosmic substructure.

The bowling shirt first showed up in post-war America as the unofficial uniform of suburban league players. While they were originally built so that you could swing a really heavy ball in one hand while drinking a beer with the other, we’ve gone for something a little lighter, sharper and more technical. Instead of traditional silky rayon, we’ve used 100% cotton for a cooler, cleaner feel. And traditional embroidered names and logos have been replaced with the action of sound waves.