{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/qj77s7m39w/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["El Capitan Quartet"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/128/original/UA_Logo_WHT_RGB_%281%29.png?1725471982","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Wang, Yaqi (Creator)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2026-01-12 (Published)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eYaqi Wang (she/her)\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDoctoral student\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFaculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation; Sociocultural Studies of Sport and Leisure\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSemifinalist\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArtist Statement\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEl Capitan in Yosemite National Park is the mecca of modern rock climbing, where each generation’s best climbers has carved distinct routes on its granite face. As a historian of climbing culture, I created this sound piece by sonifying three of its most iconic lines: Lynn Hill’s free ascent of “The Nose” in 1993, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s first free ascent of the “Dawn Wall” in 2015, and Alex Honnold’s free solo of “Freerider” in 2017. Using AI, I mapped the elevation profiles of these routes onto musical pitch and selected synthesizer timbres in GarageBand that reflect the emotional qualities of each climb, making a trio that traces El Capitan’s modern history. Climbing is an encounter between modern technique and ancient rocks, and this piece seeks to express that tension by shaping electronic synthesizers into a chamber-like ensemble. Layered above the trio are ambient sounds I recorded in an indoor climbing gym, bringing the voices of climbing communities around us into dialogue with the legendary achievements on El Capitan. I am an amateur in sound production, but I hope this work can inspire others who share curiosity for both climbing culture and sonic experimentation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMedia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSonification of map data; field recordings from indoor climbing gym\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCreative Process\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy work is a combination of two sections. First, I downloaded the route maps of these three legendary climbers. I used PhotoShop to extract the shape of these three routes, which are the basic references for the shapes of my expected sound waves. Then I asked ChatGPT to generate codes based on my prompts so that I can work in python and generate a midi document for GarageBand editing. I selected the timbres for each channel based on my interpretation of the climbers' personalities. The total time for this section was set as 3 minutes 56 seconds, as the most renowned climbing of Alex Honnold was 3 hours 56 minutes. For the second section, I recorded the ambient sound from rock climbing gyms during a regular climbing session, including people talking, cheering, and the sound of the quickdraws (climbing device) on the wall. Two sections together make my research-related sound piece.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0): see \u003ca href=\"creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/\"\u003ecreativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/\u003c/a\u003e. To obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons licence, please contact: \u003ca href=\"mailto:aviary@ualberta.ca\"\u003eaviary@ualberta.ca\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eYaqi Wang (she/her)\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDoctoral student\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFaculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation; Sociocultural Studies of Sport and Leisure\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSemifinalist\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArtist Statement\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eEl Capitan in Yosemite National Park is the mecca of modern rock climbing, where each generation\u0026rsquo;s best climbers has carved distinct routes on its granite face. As a historian of climbing culture, I created this sound piece by sonifying three of its most iconic lines: Lynn Hill\u0026rsquo;s free ascent of \u0026ldquo;The Nose\u0026rdquo; in 1993, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson\u0026rsquo;s first free ascent of the \u0026ldquo;Dawn Wall\u0026rdquo; in 2015, and Alex Honnold\u0026rsquo;s free solo of \u0026ldquo;Freerider\u0026rdquo; in 2017. Using AI, I mapped the elevation profiles of these routes onto musical pitch and selected synthesizer timbres in GarageBand that reflect the emotional qualities of each climb, making a trio that traces El Capitan\u0026rsquo;s modern history. Climbing is an encounter between modern technique and ancient rocks, and this piece seeks to express that tension by shaping electronic synthesizers into a chamber-like ensemble. Layered above the trio are ambient sounds I recorded in an indoor climbing gym, bringing the voices of climbing communities around us into dialogue with the legendary achievements on El Capitan. I am an amateur in sound production, but I hope this work can inspire others who share curiosity for both climbing culture and sonic experimentation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMedia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eSonification of map data; field recordings from indoor climbing gym\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCreative Process\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMy work is a combination of two sections. First, I downloaded the route maps of these three legendary climbers. I used PhotoShop to extract the shape of these three routes, which are the basic references for the shapes of my expected sound waves. Then I asked ChatGPT to generate codes based on my prompts so that I can work in python and generate a midi document for GarageBand editing. I selected the timbres for each channel based on my interpretation of the climbers' personalities. The total time for this section was set as 3 minutes 56 seconds, as the most renowned climbing of Alex Honnold was 3 hours 56 minutes. For the second section, I recorded the ambient sound from rock climbing gyms during a regular climbing session, including people talking, cheering, and the sound of the quickdraws (climbing device) on the wall. Two sections together make my research-related sound piece.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0): see \u003ca href=\"creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/\"\u003ecreativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/\u003c/a\u003e. To obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons licence, please contact: \u003ca href=\"mailto:aviary@ualberta.ca\"\u003eaviary@ualberta.ca\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["University of Alberta Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["University of Alberta Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/128/original/UA_Logo_WHT_RGB_%281%29.png?1725471982","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/299/100/small/thumbnail-12-Yaqi.png?1767773721","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3560/collection_resources/164353/file/299100","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - El Capitan Quartet.wav"]},"duration":243.42927,"width":640,"height":40,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/299/100/small/thumbnail-12-Yaqi.png?1767773721","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3560/collection_resources/164353/file/299100/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3560/collection_resources/164353/file/299100/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-ualberta.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/299/100/original/El%20Capitan%20Quartet.wav?1767592494","type":"Audio","format":"audio/wav","duration":243.42927,"width":640,"height":40},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3560/collection_resources/164353/file/299100","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]}]}